Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) Shares Gap Down Following Insider Selling

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock had previously closed at $44.13, but opened at $41.50. Braze shares last traded at $37.82, with a volume of 607,278 shares traded.

Specifically, CFO Isabelle Winkles sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.41, for a total transaction of $195,345.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 216,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,385,589.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Susan Wiseman sold 8,553 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.31, for a total transaction of $378,983.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 206,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,169,068.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on BRZE shares. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective on shares of Braze in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Braze from $65.00 to $52.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Braze from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Scotiabank raised Braze from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $48.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, BTIG Research lowered their price target on Braze from $68.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Braze currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $60.50.

Braze Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.53 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.17.

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 5th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.12. The company had revenue of $145.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $141.32 million. Braze had a negative return on equity of 27.85% and a negative net margin of 25.06%. Braze’s revenue was up 26.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.30) earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Braze, Inc. will post -1.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Braze

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRZE. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in Braze by 35.3% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 92,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,908,000 after buying an additional 24,098 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in Braze by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 92,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Braze by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 397,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,124,000 after purchasing an additional 20,798 shares during the last quarter. 1888 Investments LLC bought a new position in Braze in the fourth quarter worth about $617,000. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Braze during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,282,000. 90.47% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Braze Company Profile

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.