Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,910,000 shares, a growth of 42.8% from the March 15th total of 4,140,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,310,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.5 days. Currently, 8.5% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Braze Price Performance

NASDAQ:BRZE opened at $29.21 on Friday. Braze has a 1 year low of $27.75 and a 1 year high of $48.33. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $35.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.63. The company has a market cap of $3.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.62 and a beta of 1.13.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 27th. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $160.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $155.72 million. Braze had a negative return on equity of 24.88% and a negative net margin of 20.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.04) EPS. On average, analysts expect that Braze will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO William Magnuson sold 18,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.82, for a total value of $736,801.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 564,766 shares in the company, valued at $23,053,748.12. This trade represents a 3.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Pankaj Malik sold 2,585 shares of Braze stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.82, for a total value of $105,519.70. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 52,199 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,130,763.18. The trade was a 4.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 65,937 shares of company stock worth $2,707,581 over the last three months. 24.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Braze

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Braze by 21.1% during the 4th 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. increased its stake in Braze by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,693,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,798,000 after acquiring an additional 63,000 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Braze by 27.7% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,309,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,711,000 after acquiring an additional 500,667 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Braze by 121.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,197,407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,028,000 after acquiring an additional 1,203,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Braze by 107.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,963,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,246,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015,007 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Braze from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Braze in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Braze in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 target price (up previously from $50.00) on shares of Braze in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on Braze from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.50.

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.