Franklin Resources Inc. Grows Stake in Bandwidth Inc. (NASDAQ:BAND)

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Bandwidth Inc. (NASDAQ:BAND) by 40.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 77,481 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,505 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.28% of Bandwidth worth $1,325,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BAND. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Bandwidth by 3.6% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 21,221 shares of the company’s stock valued at $372,000 after buying an additional 740 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Bandwidth by 80.0% during the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its position in Bandwidth by 157.6% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,035 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of Bandwidth by 2.7% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 50,374 shares of the company’s stock valued at $850,000 after purchasing an additional 1,342 shares during the period. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bandwidth during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 68.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bandwidth Stock Performance

Bandwidth stock opened at $17.32 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Bandwidth Inc. has a twelve month low of $11.90 and a twelve month high of $25.02. The company has a market capitalization of $476.47 million, a PE ratio of -18.62 and a beta of 1.51.

Bandwidth (NASDAQ:BAND) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.11. Bandwidth had a negative return on equity of 0.89% and a negative net margin of 2.23%. The company had revenue of $193.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $182.05 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.03 EPS. Bandwidth’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Bandwidth Inc. will post 0.08 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Bandwidth in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Bandwidth from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Bandwidth from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.83.

Insider Transactions at Bandwidth

In related news, CFO Daryl Raiford sold 4,371 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.70, for a total value of $90,479.70. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 93,451 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,934,435.70. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David A. Morken sold 15,410 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.26, for a total value of $327,616.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 101,821 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,164,714.46. This represents a 13.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 44,733 shares of company stock worth $948,310. Insiders own 6.20% of the company’s stock.

About Bandwidth

Bandwidth is a leading enterprise cloud communications company. Companies like Cisco, Google, Microsoft, RingCentral, Uber, and Zoom use Bandwidth’s APIs to easily embed voice, messaging, and emergency services into software and applications. Bandwidth is the first and only CPaaS provider offering a robust selection of communications APIs built around their own IP voice network.