Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) Short Interest Up 36.1% in December

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,300,000 shares, an increase of 36.1% from the November 30th total of 3,160,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,410,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days. Approximately 6.2% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Braze Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of BRZE stock traded down $1.20 on Friday, reaching $42.90. 607,803 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,092,427. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $37.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.75. Braze has a 1-year low of $29.18 and a 1-year high of $61.53. The stock has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a P/E ratio of -37.63 and a beta of 1.15.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on BRZE shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Braze from $37.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $51.00 price target on shares of Braze in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Braze from $55.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Braze in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Braze from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Braze presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.74.

Insider Transactions at Braze

In other Braze news, insider Myles Kleeger sold 37,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.11, for a total transaction of $1,709,669.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 184,396 shares in the company, valued at $8,318,103.56. This represents a 17.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Fernando Machado sold 1,377 shares of Braze stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.65, for a total transaction of $42,205.05. Following the sale, the director now owns 8,937 shares in the company, valued at $273,919.05. This represents a 13.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 208,090 shares of company stock valued at $7,906,833 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 24.03% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Braze

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRZE. Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in Braze by 2.2% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 12,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $502,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in shares of Braze by 18.9% during the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 2,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Braze by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 23,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $898,000 after buying an additional 384 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its position in Braze by 41.5% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in Braze by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 15,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $601,000 after buying an additional 712 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.47% of the company’s stock.

About Braze

Braze, Inc operates a customer engagement platform that provides interactions between consumers and brands worldwide. The company offers Braze software development kits that automatically manage data ingestion and deliver mobile and web notifications, in-application/in-browser interstitial messages, and content cards; REST API that can be used to import or export data or to trigger workflows between Braze and brands' existing technology stacks; Partner Data Integrations, which allow brands to sync user cohorts from partners; Data Transformation, in which brands can programmatically sync and transform user data; and Braze Cloud Data Ingestion that enables brands to harness their customer data.