Federated Hermes Inc. Takes Position in ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS)

Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new stake in ePlus inc. (NASDAQ:PLUS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 11,534 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $921,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PLUS. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in ePlus by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 5,612 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $448,000 after acquiring an additional 720 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in ePlus during the 4th quarter worth about $1,078,000. AlphaQ Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in ePlus during the 4th quarter worth about $253,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in ePlus by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 95,890 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $7,656,000 after acquiring an additional 4,213 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in ePlus by 74.7% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,273 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $261,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the period. 93.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at ePlus

In related news, Director John E. Callies sold 1,308 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.17, for a total value of $103,554.36. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,622,430.81. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.41% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on PLUS shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on ePlus from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Sidoti downgraded ePlus from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $83.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 8th.

ePlus Stock Performance

Shares of PLUS opened at $75.92 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 1.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $78.31 and a 200-day moving average of $73.67. The company has a market cap of $2.05 billion, a PE ratio of 16.02 and a beta of 1.18. ePlus inc. has a one year low of $41.71 and a one year high of $83.57.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The software maker reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.24 by ($0.22). ePlus had a net margin of 5.86% and a return on equity of 15.26%. The firm had revenue of $509.06 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $598.25 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that ePlus inc. will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 in two segments, Technology and Financing. The Technology segment offers hardware, perpetual and subscription software, maintenance, software assurance, and internally provided and outsourced services; and professional and managed services, including managed, professional, security solutions, cloud consulting and hosting, staff augmentation, storage-as-a-service, server and desktop support, and project management services.