Essex Financial Services Inc. Trims Holdings in Docusign Inc. (NASDAQ:DOCU)

Essex Financial Services Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Docusign Inc. (NASDAQ:DOCU) by 3.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,559 shares of the company’s stock after selling 217 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Docusign were worth $534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Jag Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Docusign during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $241,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Docusign during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $773,000. Perpetual Ltd raised its position in shares of Docusign by 147.2% during the 1st quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 8,154 shares of the company’s stock valued at $664,000 after acquiring an additional 4,856 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Docusign by 519.4% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Docusign by 27.5% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 602 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. 77.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DOCU has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Docusign from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Wedbush dropped their price target on Docusign from $100.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Docusign in a research report on Friday, June 6th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Docusign from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Docusign in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.77.

Docusign Stock Up 1.9%

DOCU stock opened at $77.89 on Tuesday. Docusign Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $48.80 and a fifty-two week high of $107.86. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $82.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.92. The stock has a market cap of $15.74 billion, a PE ratio of 14.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 29.00 and a beta of 1.14.

Docusign (NASDAQ:DOCU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.09. Docusign had a net margin of 36.50% and a return on equity of 14.27%. The business had revenue of $763.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $748.79 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.82 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Docusign Inc. will post 1.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Docusign declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, June 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 6.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Docusign

In other Docusign news, Director Teresa Briggs sold 534 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.37, for a total transaction of $39,713.58. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $654,827.85. This trade represents a 5.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Blake Jeffrey Grayson sold 15,143 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.80, for a total transaction of $1,132,696.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 110,723 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,282,080.40. The trade was a 12.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 46,552 shares of company stock valued at $3,491,951. Company insiders own 1.66% of the company’s stock.

Docusign Profile

DocuSign, Inc provides electronic signature solution in the United States and internationally. The company provides e-signature solution that enables sending and signing of agreements on various devices; Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM), which automates workflows across the entire agreement process; Document Generation streamlines the process of generating new, custom agreements; and Gen for Salesforce, which allows sales representatives to automatically generate agreements with a few clicks from within Salesforce.