Stephens Initiates Coverage on Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE)

Equities researchers at Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) in a note issued to investors on Wednesday. The firm set an “overweight” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. Stephens’ target price points to a potential upside of 21.16% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the stock. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Braze in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Macquarie lifted their price objective on shares of Braze from $30.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Braze from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Braze from $37.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Braze from $65.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.20.

Braze Stock Performance

NASDAQ BRZE opened at $35.49 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.67 billion, a PE ratio of -31.13 and a beta of 1.17. Braze has a one year low of $29.18 and a one year high of $55.47. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $40.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.16.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Braze news, CAO Pankaj Malik sold 3,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.77, for a total value of $169,349.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 54,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,507,463.68. This represents a 6.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Susan Wiseman sold 3,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total transaction of $139,509.72. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 182,109 shares in the company, valued at $7,288,002.18. This trade represents a 1.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 89,470 shares of company stock worth $3,841,921. 24.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Braze

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Braze by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,464,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,479,000 after purchasing an additional 1,476,423 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Braze by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,693,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,798,000 after buying an additional 63,000 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Braze by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,309,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,711,000 after buying an additional 500,667 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Braze by 121.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,197,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,028,000 after buying an additional 1,203,149 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Braze by 107.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,963,841 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,246,000 after buying an additional 1,015,007 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.47% of the company’s stock.

About Braze

Braze, Inc operates a customer engagement platform that provides interactions between consumers and brands worldwide. The company offers Braze software development kits that automatically manage data ingestion and deliver mobile and web notifications, in-application/in-browser interstitial messages, and content cards; REST API that can be used to import or export data or to trigger workflows between Braze and brands' existing technology stacks; Partner Data Integrations, which allow brands to sync user cohorts from partners; Data Transformation, in which brands can programmatically sync and transform user data; and Braze Cloud Data Ingestion that enables brands to harness their customer data.