BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) Raised to “Neutral” at Piper Sandler

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Piper Sandler from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm presently has a $62.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $55.00. Piper Sandler’s target price indicates a potential upside of 6.18% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also commented on BL. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $81.00 price target on shares of BlackLine in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of BlackLine from $65.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on BlackLine in a research report on Monday, March 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on BlackLine from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on BlackLine from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.50.

BlackLine Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BL opened at $58.39 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -583.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.19 and a beta of 0.86. BlackLine has a 52 week low of $47.26 and a 52 week high of $69.31. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.19, a current ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.37.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $155.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $154.24 million. BlackLine had a negative net margin of 1.50% and a positive return on equity of 2.15%. On average, equities analysts predict that BlackLine will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackLine

In related news, 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 sale, the director now owns 11,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $632,500. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Thomas Unterman sold 750 shares of BlackLine stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kevin B. Thompson sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $632,500. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 9.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackLine

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BL. Meritage Group LP purchased a new position in shares of BlackLine during the 3rd quarter worth about $59,530,000. UBS Group AG raised its stake in BlackLine by 855.5% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 657,004 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $36,444,000 after purchasing an additional 588,245 shares during the period. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of BlackLine in the 3rd quarter valued at $21,853,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,658,540 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $369,349,000 after purchasing an additional 380,614 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of BlackLine during the 4th quarter valued at $16,927,000. 95.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.