Short Interest in Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) Expands By 11.9%

Braze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRZE) was the target of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,810,000 shares, a growth of 11.9% from the December 15th total of 4,300,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,360,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days. Currently, 6.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Braze Price Performance

BRZE stock opened at $44.11 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a PE ratio of -38.69 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50-day moving average is $41.22 and its 200-day moving average is $38.48. Braze has a 1 year low of $29.18 and a 1 year high of $61.53.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $51.00 price target on shares of Braze in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on shares of Braze from $55.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Braze from $65.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Braze in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Braze from $37.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Braze news, CEO William Magnuson sold 17,933 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.45, for a total transaction of $617,791.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 582,816 shares in the company, valued at $20,078,011.20. The trade was a 2.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Jonathan Hyman sold 6,930 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.45, for a total transaction of $238,738.50. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 163,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,616,039. This represents a 4.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 174,583 shares of company stock worth $7,325,468. Corporate insiders own 24.03% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Braze

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BRZE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Braze by 146.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,808,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,489,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075,998 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Braze during the 3rd quarter worth about $20,794,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in shares of Braze by 69.5% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,494,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,319,000 after purchasing an additional 612,400 shares in the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Braze during the 2nd quarter worth about $12,925,000. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Braze by 21.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,575,701 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,958,000 after acquiring an additional 279,050 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.47% of the company’s stock.

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.