ePlus inc. [PLUS] is 13.80% higher this YTD. Is it still time to buy?

ePlus inc. [NASDAQ: PLUS] gained 1.65% on the last trading session, reaching $50.39 price per share at the time. The company report on April 5, 2023 that ePlus Announces New Stock Repurchase Program.

ePlus inc. (NASDAQ NQGS: PLUS – news) today announced that its board of directors has authorized the Company to repurchase up to 1,000,000 shares of ePlus’ outstanding common stock over a 12-month period commencing May 28, 2023.  The Company’s current repurchase plan will expire on May 27, 2023.  ePlus had approximately 26.9 million shares of common stock outstanding as of April 3, 2023.

The purchases may be made from time to time in the open market, or in privately negotiated transactions, subject to availability.  Any repurchased shares will have the status of treasury shares and may be used, if and when needed, for general corporate purposes.  ePlus has no obligation to repurchase shares under the authorization, and the timing, actual number and value of the shares which are repurchased will be at the discretion of management and will depend on a number of factors, including the price of the Company’s common stock. The Company may suspend or discontinue repurchases at any time.

ePlus inc. represents 26.59 million in outstanding shares, while the company has a total market value of $1.32 billion with the latest information. PLUS stock price has been found in the range of $49.575 to $50.87.

If compared to the average trading volume of 90.96K shares, PLUS reached a trading volume of 81659 in the most recent trading day, which is why market watchdogs consider the stock to be active.

Here is what top equities market gurus are saying about ePlus inc. [PLUS]:

Based on careful and fact-backed analyses by Wall Street experts, the current consensus on the target price for PLUS shares is $62.50 per share. Analysis on target price and performance of stocks is usually carefully studied by market experts, and the current Wall Street consensus on PLUS stock is a recommendation set at 1.70. This rating represents a strong Buy recommendation, on the scale from 1 to 5, where 5 would mean strong sell, 4 represents Sell, 3 is Hold, and 2 indicates Buy.

Sidoti have made an estimate for ePlus inc. shares, keeping their opinion on the stock as Buy, with their previous recommendation back on August 05, 2021. The new note on the price target was released on December 09, 2020, representing the official price target for ePlus inc. stock. Previously, the target price had yet another raise from $91 to $102, while Berenberg kept a Buy rating on PLUS stock.

The Average True Range (ATR) for ePlus inc. is set at 1.44, with the Price to Sales ratio for PLUS stock in the period of the last 12 months amounting to 0.65. The Price to Book ratio for the last quarter was 1.80, with the Price to Cash per share for the same quarter was set at 3.78.

Trading performance analysis for PLUS stock

ePlus inc. [PLUS] gain into the green zone at the end of the last week, gaining into a positive trend and gaining by 5.20. With this latest performance, PLUS shares dropped by -3.13% in over the last four-week period, additionally plugging by 15.44% over the last 6 months – not to mention a drop of -7.93% in the past year of trading.

Overbought and oversold stocks can be easily traced with the Relative Strength Index (RSI), where an RSI result of over 70 would be overbought, and any rate below 30 would indicate oversold conditions. An RSI rate of 50 would represent a neutral market momentum. The current RSI for PLUS stock in for the last two-week period is set at 52.59, with the RSI for the last a single of trading hit 57.81, and the three-weeks RSI is set at 50.86 for ePlus inc. [PLUS]. The present Moving Average for the last 50 days of trading for this stock 51.75, while it was recorded at 49.54 for the last single week of trading, and 48.94 for the last 200 days.

ePlus inc. [PLUS]: A deeper dive into fundamental analysis

ePlus inc.’s liquidity data is similarly interesting compelling, with a Quick Ratio of 1.30 and a Current Ratio set at 1.60.

ePlus inc. [PLUS]: An earnings per share (EPS) analysis

The progress of the company may be observed through the prism of EPS growth rate, while Wall Street analysts are focusing on predicting the 5-year EPS growth rate for PLUS. When it comes to the mentioned value, analysts are expecting to see the 5-year EPS growth rate for ePlus inc. go to 5.00%.

An analysis of insider ownership at ePlus inc. [PLUS]

There are presently around $1,269 million, or 95.60% of PLUS stock, in the hands of institutional investors. The top three institutional holders of PLUS stocks are: BLACKROCK INC. with ownership of 4,732,927, which is approximately -1.473% of the company’s market cap and around 0.90% of the total institutional ownership; VANGUARD GROUP INC, holding 2,111,123 shares of the stock with an approximate value of $104.65 million in PLUS stocks shares; and RIVER ROAD ASSET MANAGEMENT, LLC, currently with $94.21 million in PLUS stock with ownership of nearly 2.701% of the company’s market capitalization.

Positions in ePlus inc. stocks held by institutional investors increased at the end of Wednesday and at the time of the Wednesday reporting period, where 89 institutional holders increased their position in ePlus inc. [NASDAQ:PLUS] by around 1,330,691 shares. Additionally, 79 investors decreased positions by around 943,096 shares, while 32 investors held positions by with 23,323,629 shares. The mentioned changes placed institutional holdings at 25,597,416 shares, according to the latest SEC report filing. PLUS stock had 24 new institutional investments in for a total of 180,620 shares, while 19 institutional investors sold positions of 208,354 shares during the same period.