ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) Reaches New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $93.37 and last traded at $91.71, with a volume of 13789 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $91.51.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of ePlus in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded ePlus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, September 21st. Finally, Zacks Research raised ePlus from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ePlus has an average rating of “Buy”.

ePlus Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average of $76.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $72.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.14.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The software maker reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $518.30 million. On average, equities analysts predict that ePlus inc. will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ePlus Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of ePlus

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLUS. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ePlus during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of ePlus by 47.8% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 439 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ePlus in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of ePlus by 361.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 448 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quaker Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in ePlus by 200.0% during the second quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 525 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050 shares during the last quarter. 93.80% of the stock is owned by 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.