DocuSign (NASDAQ:DOCU) Shares Gap Up Following Earnings Beat

DocuSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:DOCU) shares gapped up before the market opened on Friday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $74.70, but opened at $81.52. DocuSign shares last traded at $86.44, with a volume of 4,122,687 shares.

The company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.02. DocuSign had a return on equity of 14.90% and a net margin of 34.73%. The business had revenue of $776.25 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $760.94 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $90.00 price target (up previously from $57.00) on shares of DocuSign in a research note on Friday, December 6th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $124.00 target price on shares of DocuSign in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised DocuSign from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $75.00 in a report on Monday. HSBC restated a “reduce” rating on shares of DocuSign in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of DocuSign from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at DocuSign

In other news, insider Robert Chatwani sold 14,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.76, for a total value of $1,446,848.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 73,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,176,952.64. This trade represents a 16.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Blake Jeffrey Grayson sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.90, for a total value of $695,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 77,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,765,251.90. This represents a 9.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 104,422 shares of company stock worth $9,665,394 over the last 90 days. 1.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On DocuSign

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of DocuSign during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in DocuSign by 102.6% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 397 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of DocuSign during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of DocuSign during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its holdings in shares of DocuSign by 476.0% in the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 432 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 357 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.64% of the company’s stock.

DocuSign Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $17.61 billion, a PE ratio of 17.93, a P/E/G ratio of 6.94 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $88.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.04.

About DocuSign

DocuSign, Inc provides electronic signature solution in the United States and internationally. The company provides e-signature solution that enables sending and signing of agreements on various devices; Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM), which automates workflows across the entire agreement process; Document Generation streamlines the process of generating new, custom agreements; and Gen for Salesforce, which allows sales representatives to automatically generate agreements with a few clicks from within Salesforce.