Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Acquires Shares of 9,757 ePlus inc. $PLUS

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 9,757 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $703,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quaker Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in ePlus by 200.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 525 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,050 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of ePlus by 33.6% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 632 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in ePlus by 34.1% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,503 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in ePlus by 19.6% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,282 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in ePlus by 628.3% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,066 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $187,000 after purchasing an additional 2,645 shares during the last quarter. 93.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PLUS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of ePlus in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research raised ePlus from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised ePlus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

ePlus Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PLUS opened at $88.25 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.33 billion, a PE ratio of 19.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.63. ePlus inc. has a 1 year low of $53.83 and a 1 year high of $92.66.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The software maker reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.58. ePlus had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 5.47%.The firm had revenue of $608.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $518.30 million. Equities research analysts expect that ePlus inc. will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ePlus Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 25th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 25th. ePlus’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.69%.

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.