ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

ePlus Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PLUS opened at $70.31 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.10. ePlus has a 1-year low of $67.09 and a 1-year high of $106.98. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.71.

ePlus (NASDAQ:PLUS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by ($0.37). ePlus had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 11.23%. Research analysts expect that ePlus will post 4.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLUS. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of ePlus by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 496,648 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $36,692,000 after buying an additional 37,496 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its holdings in ePlus by 1,000.0% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 473 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in ePlus in the 4th quarter worth $60,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of ePlus by 20.3% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 226,724 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $16,751,000 after purchasing an additional 38,317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirabella Financial Services LLP purchased a new position in shares of ePlus during the fourth quarter valued at about $43,517,000. 93.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About ePlus

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.