Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) Earns Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $50.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price indicates a potential upside of 43.80% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Braze in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Braze from $48.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 5th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Braze in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Braze from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, BTIG Research started coverage on Braze in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.95.

Braze Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of BRZE stock opened at $34.77 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.81. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.61 and a beta of 1.10. Braze has a 1-year low of $23.91 and a 1-year high of $48.33.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, December 9th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.06. The company had revenue of $190.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $198.25 million. Braze had a negative return on equity of 17.87% and a negative net margin of 16.85%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.02 EPS. Braze has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.420-0.430 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.130-0.140 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Braze will post -0.98 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Jonathan Hyman sold 9,789 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.64, for a total transaction of $260,778.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 195,317 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,203,244.88. This represents a 4.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO William Magnuson sold 26,698 shares of Braze stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.64, for a total transaction of $711,234.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 694,746 shares in the company, valued at $18,508,033.44. This trade represents a 3.70% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 69,923 shares of company stock valued at $1,917,418. Insiders own 18.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Braze

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Braze by 2.8% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,316,234 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,086,000 after buying an additional 64,025 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI acquired a new position in Braze in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $736,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Braze in the 1st quarter worth approximately $691,000. Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Braze in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $638,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC grew its holdings in shares of Braze by 250.6% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 17,899 shares of the company’s stock worth $503,000 after purchasing an additional 12,794 shares in the last quarter. 90.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Braze

Braze, Inc is a publicly traded software company (NASDAQ: BRZE) that offers a customer engagement platform designed to help brands build personalized relationships with their users. Founded in 2011 as Appboy by Bill Magnuson, Jon Hyman and Mark Ghermezian, the company adopted the Braze name in 2017 to underscore its focus on fostering strong connections between businesses and consumers. Its cloud-based platform consolidates messaging channels including push notifications, in-app messages, email and SMS, enabling companies to deliver timely, context-driven communications at scale.

The core functionality of Braze’s platform centers on data-driven segmentation, customer journey orchestration and real-time analytics.