Prudential Financial Inc. Decreases Position in BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL)

Prudential Financial Inc. trimmed its position in BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,028 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 819 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.08% of BlackLine worth $3,222,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackLine by 20.2% in the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,113,882 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $128,439,000 after acquiring an additional 354,784 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in BlackLine by 35.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,666,591 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $91,896,000 after purchasing an additional 435,271 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,282,017 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $70,704,000 after buying an additional 3,498 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackLine by 12,538.0% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 896,665 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $54,481,000 after buying an additional 889,570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackLine by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 501,699 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,483,000 after buying an additional 6,477 shares in the last quarter. 95.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson began coverage on shares of BlackLine in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $58.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target 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. StockNews.com downgraded BlackLine from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Citigroup cut their target price on BlackLine from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $86.00 price target on shares of BlackLine in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackLine news, CRO Mark Woodhams sold 9,088 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the executive now owns 65,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,249,113.38. This trade represents a 12.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 9.93% of the company’s stock.

BlackLine Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BL opened at $49.44 on Thursday. BlackLine, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $43.37 and a fifty-two week high of $69.09. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $53.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.10, a PEG ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 1.03.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The technology company reported $0.21 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that BlackLine, Inc. will post 0.9 EPS for the current year.

BlackLine Company Profile

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.