Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Sells 23,639 Shares of BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lessened its position in shares of BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL) by 40.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,837 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 23,639 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC owned about 0.06% of BlackLine worth $2,250,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its stake in shares of BlackLine by 42.9% during the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 7,133 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $445,000 after acquiring an additional 2,140 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in BlackLine by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,738,189 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $420,733,000 after purchasing an additional 79,649 shares in the last quarter. Vancity Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in BlackLine by 24.1% during the 4th quarter. Vancity Investment Management Ltd now owns 14,631 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $914,000 after purchasing an additional 2,837 shares in the last quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP increased its stake in BlackLine by 85.4% during the 4th quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 730,259 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,597,000 after purchasing an additional 336,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PEAK6 Investments LLC increased its stake in BlackLine by 385.5% during the 4th quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC now owns 59,484 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,714,000 after purchasing an additional 47,233 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of BlackLine in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of BlackLine from $66.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of BlackLine from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of BlackLine from $61.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of BlackLine to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.56.

BlackLine Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BL opened at $45.84 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $53.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.64. BlackLine, Inc. has a 1 year low of $43.79 and a 1 year high of $69.31. The company has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a PE ratio of 199.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.08 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.08, a quick ratio of 2.30 and a current ratio of 2.30.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.10. BlackLine had a net margin of 2.30% and a return on equity of 9.07%. The firm had revenue of $157.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $155.05 million. On average, research analysts predict that BlackLine, Inc. will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jimmy C. Duan acquired 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $47.73 per share, with a total value of $95,460.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 50,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,403,682.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Jimmy C. Duan acquired 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $47.73 per share, with a total value of $95,460.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 50,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,403,682.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark Partin sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.38, for a total transaction of $2,369,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 229,341 shares in the company, valued at $10,866,176.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BlackLine Company 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.