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

Shares of DocuSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:DOCU) gapped up before the market opened on Friday following a stronger than expected earnings report. 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 trading hands.

The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.02. DocuSign had a net margin of 34.73% and a return on equity of 14.90%. The firm had revenue of $776.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $760.94 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DOCU has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of DocuSign in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of DocuSign from $62.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of DocuSign to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on DocuSign from $59.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of DocuSign in a research report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.42.

Insider Transactions at DocuSign

In other news, CFO Blake Jeffrey Grayson sold 8,000 shares of DocuSign 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 77,851 shares in the company, valued at $6,765,251.90. The trade was a 9.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Teresa Briggs sold 534 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.60, for a total transaction of $50,516.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $731,825.60. The trade was a 6.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 104,422 shares of company stock worth $9,665,394 over the last quarter. 1.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of DocuSign

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of DOCU. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new position in DocuSign in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Audent Global Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of DocuSign by 382.6% during the 4th quarter. Audent Global Asset Management LLC now owns 27,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,467,000 after purchasing an additional 21,742 shares during the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH bought a new position in shares of DocuSign in the 4th quarter worth approximately $772,000. Fluent Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of DocuSign in the 4th quarter worth approximately $694,000. Finally, Total Wealth Planning & Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of DocuSign in the fourth quarter worth approximately $312,000. Institutional investors own 77.64% of the company’s stock.

DocuSign Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $17.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.94 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $88.06 and its 200-day moving average is $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.