BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

Several other brokerages have also commented on BL. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of BlackLine from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of BlackLine from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on BlackLine from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on BlackLine from $68.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Bank of America raised BlackLine from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $50.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BlackLine currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.75.

BlackLine Stock Performance

Shares of BlackLine stock opened at $55.00 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $47.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.12. BlackLine has a 52 week low of $40.82 and a 52 week high of $66.25. The company has a market cap of $3.43 billion, a PE ratio of 37.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The technology company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.29). BlackLine had a return on equity of 21.63% and a net margin of 24.67%. Equities analysts anticipate that BlackLine will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackLine

In related news, CRO Mark Woodhams sold 9,088 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.67, for a total transaction of $451,400.96. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 65,414 shares in the company, valued at $3,249,113.38. This trade represents a 12.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 8.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BL. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in BlackLine by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 290,775 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,033,000 after buying an additional 34,919 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in BlackLine by 20.2% in the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,113,882 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $128,439,000 after acquiring an additional 354,784 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in BlackLine by 154.1% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,159 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $253,000 after purchasing an additional 2,522 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in BlackLine by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 147,381 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,955,000 after purchasing an additional 8,558 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP bought a new position in BlackLine in the 4th quarter worth $244,000. Institutional investors own 95.13% of the company’s stock.

About BlackLine

BlackLine, Inc operates a cloud-based software platform which is designed to transform accounting and finance operations for organizations of all types and sizes. Its scalable platform supports critical accounting processes such as the financial close, account reconciliations, intercompany accounting, and controls assurance.