Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday. The stock had previously closed at $25.10, but opened at $26.29. Braze shares last traded at $25.70, with a volume of 253,820 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stephens reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Braze in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $35.00 price objective on Braze in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Braze from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Braze in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Braze in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.21.

Braze Stock Up 0.5%

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $27.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.27. The company has a market capitalization of $2.86 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.46 and a beta of 0.88.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 8th. The company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $227.23 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $220.27 million. Braze had a negative net margin of 13.55% and a negative return on equity of 16.11%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.15 earnings per share. Braze has set its FY 2027 guidance at 0.640-0.650 EPS and its Q3 2027 guidance at 0.130-0.140 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Braze, Inc. will post -0.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Braze

In other Braze news, CTO Jonathan Hyman sold 42,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.47, for a total value of $1,363,740.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,143,219 shares in the company, valued at $37,120,320.93. The trade was a 3.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CRO Edward M. Mcdonnell sold 29,732 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.38, for a total value of $932,990.16. Following the transaction, the executive directly owned 409,630 shares in the company, valued at $12,854,189.40. This represents a 6.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 203,568 shares of company stock valued at $6,096,461. Company insiders own 12.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Braze

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRZE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Braze during the first quarter valued at about $14,294,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Braze by 232,716.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 100,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,433,000 after purchasing an additional 100,068 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Braze by 1,057.5% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 199,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,705,000 after purchasing an additional 182,074 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Braze by 252.9% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 167,498 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,955,000 after purchasing an additional 120,033 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Braze in the second quarter valued at approximately $11,814,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.47% of the company’s stock.

About Braze

Braze, Inc is a customer engagement software company that helps businesses build and manage personalized interactions with consumers. Its cloud-based platform enables organizations to collect and analyze customer data, create audience segments, and deliver marketing messages across multiple channels.

The Braze platform supports communication through mobile and web applications, email, SMS, messaging services, and other digital channels. Its offerings include campaign orchestration, customer journey management, in-app and browser messaging, personalization, analytics, experimentation, and artificial intelligence tools designed to help companies improve customer retention and engagement.

The company was founded in 2011 as Appboy by Bill Magnuson, Mark Ghermezian, and Jon Hyman, and later adopted the Braze name.