Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Reduces Holdings in BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its position in shares of BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) by 13.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,128 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,338 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in BlackLine were worth $732,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bridgewater Associates LP acquired a new position in BlackLine during the 4th quarter worth $244,000. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in BlackLine by 59.2% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 53,811 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,270,000 after acquiring an additional 20,008 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in BlackLine by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 159,076 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,702,000 after acquiring an additional 11,549 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in BlackLine by 62.9% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 96,597 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,869,000 after acquiring an additional 37,285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC grew its holdings in BlackLine by 21.6% during the 1st quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 7,834 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 1,392 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at BlackLine

In other BlackLine news, CAO Michelle D. Stalick sold 795 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.14, for a total transaction of $43,836.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 25,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,391,457.90. The trade was a 3.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CRO Mark Woodhams sold 1,856 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.65, for a total transaction of $101,430.40. Following the transaction, the executive directly owned 61,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,354,963.50. The trade was a 2.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 8.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on BL. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of BlackLine from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of BlackLine from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of BlackLine from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $56.00 price target on shares of BlackLine in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of BlackLine in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $58.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackLine has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.08.

BlackLine Trading Up 2.7%

BlackLine stock opened at $49.34 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $55.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.25, a PEG ratio of 7.88 and a beta of 0.91. BlackLine has a 52-week low of $40.82 and a 52-week high of $66.25.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $172.03 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.87 million. BlackLine had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 15.95%. BlackLine’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.58 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackLine will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackLine 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.