StockNews.com Downgrades BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) to Hold

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

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on BlackLine from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $86.00 target price on shares of BlackLine in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of BlackLine from $68.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America upgraded shares of BlackLine from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of BlackLine from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.40.

BlackLine Stock Performance

NASDAQ BL opened at $48.27 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 2.59. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $58.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 0.92. BlackLine has a fifty-two week low of $43.37 and a fifty-two week high of $69.31.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackLine news, CRO Mark Woodhams sold 9,088 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.67, for a total value of $451,400.96. Following the sale, the executive now directly owns 65,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,249,113.38. This represents a 12.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 9.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackLine

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Topline Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in BlackLine during the 4th quarter worth about $60,572,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of BlackLine by 12,538.0% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 896,665 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $54,481,000 after purchasing an additional 889,570 shares during the period. Engaged Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackLine in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,620,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. purchased a new position in BlackLine during the 4th quarter worth $34,928,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 35.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,666,591 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $91,896,000 after buying an additional 435,271 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.