Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Cuts Stake in BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. cut its stake in BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 37,783 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,900 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in BlackLine were worth $2,359,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its position in shares of BlackLine by 0.8% during the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 23,544 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,724,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in shares of BlackLine by 1.6% during the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,639 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $812,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of BlackLine by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 22,359 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,504,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of BlackLine by 4.8% during the first quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 6,352 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $465,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in BlackLine by 12.1% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,069 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $225,000 after buying an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. 95.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on BL shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on BlackLine in a report on Monday, March 18th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on BlackLine from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on BlackLine from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on BlackLine from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on BlackLine from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.80.

BlackLine Stock Performance

Shares of BL stock opened at $57.37 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.19, a current ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.37. The business has a 50 day moving average of $62.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.13. BlackLine, Inc. has a 52 week low of $47.26 and a 52 week high of $69.31. The company has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a P/E ratio of -573.70, a PEG ratio of 10.19 and a beta of 0.86.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $155.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $154.24 million. BlackLine had a positive return on equity of 2.15% and a negative net margin of 1.50%. As a group, analysts anticipate that BlackLine, Inc. will post 1.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at BlackLine

In other news, Director Kevin B. Thompson sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total transaction of $258,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,000 shares in the company, valued at $632,500. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other BlackLine news, Director Thomas Unterman sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $45,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 51,470 shares in the company, valued at $3,088,200. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kevin B. Thompson sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value of $258,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $632,500. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 9.93% of the company’s stock.

BlackLine Profile

BlackLine, Inc provides cloud-based solutions to automate and streamline accounting and finance operations worldwide. It offers financial close management solutions, such as account reconciliations that provides a centralized workspace for users to collaborate on account reconciliations; transaction matching that analyzes and reconciles individual transactions; task management to create and manage processes and task lists; and financial reporting analytics that enables analysis and validation of financial data.