John Callies Sells 560 Shares of ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) Stock

ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS) Director John Callies sold 560 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.03, for a total transaction of $50,416.80. Following the sale, the director directly owned 21,428 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,929,162.84. The trade was a 2.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

ePlus Stock Performance

Shares of PLUS traded up $2.40 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $92.02. 357,323 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 198,788. The stock has a market cap of $2.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $80.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.29. ePlus inc. has a 1 year low of $53.83 and a 1 year high of $93.37.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The software maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $608.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $518.30 million. ePlus had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 11.44%. On average, analysts forecast that ePlus inc. will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

ePlus Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 25th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 25th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. ePlus’s dividend payout ratio is 21.69%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of ePlus in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised ePlus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 21st. Finally, Zacks Research raised ePlus from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ePlus

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Argent Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in ePlus by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 20,703 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after buying an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of ePlus by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. now owns 34,210 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,429,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of ePlus by 47.8% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 439 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of ePlus by 33.6% in the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 632 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vista Finance LLC grew its position in ePlus by 4.1% in the second quarter. Vista Finance LLC now owns 4,794 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $346,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. 93.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.