Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 8,713 Shares of ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS) by 6.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 133,027 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 8,713 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.49% of ePlus worth $13,082,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of ePlus by 7.2% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 24,357 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,913,000 after buying an additional 1,639 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in ePlus by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,361 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $421,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in ePlus during the 1st quarter valued at $428,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its holdings in shares of ePlus by 25.1% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 27,490 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,157,000 after purchasing an additional 5,508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of ePlus by 1,236.7% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 1,056 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 977 shares during the last quarter. 93.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ePlus news, CFO Elaine D. Marion sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.19, for a total value of $460,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 64,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,940,907.98. This represents a 7.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut ePlus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday.

ePlus Trading Down 2.3 %

NASDAQ:PLUS opened at $78.62 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.11 billion, a PE ratio of 19.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.03. ePlus inc. has a 12 month low of $56.33 and a 12 month high of $106.98.

ePlus Company Profile

ePlus inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides information technology (IT) solutions that enable organizations to optimize their IT environment and supply chain processes in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Technology and Financing. The Technology segment offers hardware, perpetual and subscription software, maintenance, software assurance, and internally provided and outsourced services; managed services or infrastructure and cloud; and enhanced maintenance support, service desk, storage-as-a-service, cloud hosted and managed, and managed security services; and professional, staff augmentation, cloud consulting, consulting, and security services.