Oppenheimer Has Lowered Expectations for Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) Stock Price

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) had its target price reduced by Oppenheimer from $51.00 to $44.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on BRZE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Braze from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Braze from $55.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Braze from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Macquarie dropped their target price on Braze from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $50.00 target price on Braze and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.60.

Braze Stock Performance

Shares of BRZE opened at $29.73 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $32.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.98. Braze has a 52-week low of $27.45 and a 52-week high of $48.33. The company has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.08 and a beta of 1.22.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.02. Braze had a negative return on equity of 24.88% and a negative net margin of 20.41%. The firm had revenue of $162.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $158.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.05) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Braze will post -0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Braze

In related news, CEO William Magnuson sold 25,089 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.88, for a total value of $900,193.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 745,769 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,758,191.72. This represents a 3.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Phillip M. Fernandez sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.46, for a total value of $62,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,269 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $633,052.74. This represents a 8.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 71,150 shares of company stock worth $2,540,814. 18.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRZE. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Braze by 148.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 107,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,472,000 after acquiring an additional 64,093 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its stake in Braze by 39.7% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,929 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 832 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC grew its stake in Braze by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 772,268 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,343,000 after acquiring an additional 129,298 shares during the period. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new position in Braze in the fourth quarter valued at about $165,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Braze in the fourth quarter valued at about $236,000. 90.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.