Blend Labs (NYSE:BLND) Stock Price Target Lowered at Citizens Jmp

Blend Labs (NYSE:BLND) had its price objective trimmed by Citizens Jmp from $4.00 to $2.50 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market outperform rating on the stock.

BLND has been the topic of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $3.00 price target on Blend Labs in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen cut Blend Labs from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 25th. Zacks Research raised Blend Labs from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Blend Labs in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on shares of Blend Labs from $4.50 to $3.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blend Labs currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $2.40.

Blend Labs Trading Down 14.4%

Shares of BLND traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $0.98. 3,146,992 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,490,438. Blend Labs has a fifty-two week low of $0.85 and a fifty-two week high of $3.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $230.83 million, a P/E ratio of -6.97 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s 50 day moving average is $1.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1.59.

Insider Activity at Blend Labs

In related news, insider Srinivasan Venkatramani sold 74,705 shares of Blend Labs stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.43, for a total value of $106,828.15. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 236,563 shares in the company, valued at $338,285.09. The trade was a 24.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nima Ghamsari sold 27,775 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $0.92, for a total value of $25,553.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,750,693 shares in the company, valued at $7,130,637.56. This represents a 0.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 239,072 shares of company stock worth $281,085 in the last quarter. 40.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blend Labs

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BLND. Irenic Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Blend Labs by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Irenic Capital Management LP now owns 2,284,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,906,000 after purchasing an additional 79,901 shares in the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Blend Labs by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 1,006,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,711,000 after purchasing an additional 123,699 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Blend Labs by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 340,757 shares of the company’s stock valued at $579,000 after purchasing an additional 21,713 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Blend Labs by 99.0% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 258,688 shares of the company’s stock valued at $440,000 after purchasing an additional 128,677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming purchased a new position in shares of Blend Labs in the 3rd quarter valued at about $225,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Blend Labs

Here are the key news stories impacting Blend Labs this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blend said it had its strongest sales quarter in more than three years. Its Autopilot customer count rose from six to ten, and management said the product’s pipeline has grown. Third-quarter revenue of $32.91 million also topped analyst estimates of $32.47 million. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s third-quarter earnings were reported as a $0.02-per-share loss in one account, while Zacks described results as break-even; either way, they were below Zacks’ $0.01-per-share consensus estimate and roughly in line with the prior-year break-even result. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: A report said BLND moved above its 50-day moving average, a potentially supportive technical signal, though it followed news of insider sales. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Wells Fargo cut its price target from $3 to $2, and Citizens JMP lowered its target from $4 to $2.50. Both firms retained favorable ratings, but the target reductions temper the bullish message. Read More.; Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: CEO and co-founder Nima Ghamsari continued selling shares under a pre-arranged trading plan, including 22,322 shares on Nov. 2. The reported sale was small compared with his remaining stake, but repeated insider sales may weigh on sentiment. Read More.

About Blend Labs

Blend Labs, Inc develops cloud-based software that helps financial institutions digitize and streamline lending and banking processes. Its platform is designed to support customer applications, document collection, underwriting workflows, compliance requirements and other steps involved in delivering financial products.

The company’s solutions cover areas including mortgage lending, consumer loans, deposit accounts and other retail banking services. Blend provides configurable tools intended to help banks, credit unions, fintech companies and other lenders create digital customer experiences while connecting front-end applications with back-office systems.

Blend was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.