Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE) Short Interest Update

Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 4,210,311 shares, a growth of 135.5% from the August 15th total of 1,787,453 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,266,036 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.3 days. Approximately 7.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Activity at Backblaze

In related news, CFO Marc Suidan sold 2,110 shares of Backblaze stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.82, for a total transaction of $33,380.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 349,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,529,374.76. This trade represents a 0.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Gleb Budman sold 12,855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.82, for a total value of $203,366.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,192,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,679,069.46. This trade represents a 0.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 4.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Backblaze

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLZE. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Backblaze by 83.8% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 787 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Backblaze during the second quarter worth about $77,000. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of Backblaze by 1,388.2% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 5,178 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Backblaze in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Oxford Asset Management LLP bought a new stake in shares of Backblaze during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 54.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BLZE. William Blair raised shares of Backblaze from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Citizens Jmp raised their price target on shares of Backblaze from $16.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Backblaze from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. B. Riley Financial increased their target price on shares of Backblaze from $16.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Lake Street Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of Backblaze in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Backblaze has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.71.

Backblaze Price Performance

BLZE stock opened at $12.40 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Backblaze has a 12 month low of $3.26 and a 12 month high of $23.99. The firm has a market cap of $767.56 million, a P/E ratio of -36.47 and a beta of 1.56. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $15.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.51.

Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $42.71 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.94 million. Backblaze had a negative net margin of 13.07% and a negative return on equity of 16.73%. On average, analysts anticipate that Backblaze will post -0.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Backblaze Company Profile

Backblaze, Inc provides cloud storage and data backup services for businesses, developers and individual users. Its platform is designed to help customers store, protect, manage and recover data through scalable cloud-based infrastructure.

The company’s principal offerings include Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, an object-storage service used for applications, content distribution, backup, archiving and disaster recovery, and Backblaze Computer Backup, which helps individuals and organizations back up data from computers.