BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Thursday morning.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on BlackLine from $68.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on BlackLine from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on BlackLine from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of BlackLine from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of BlackLine from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackLine presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.40.

BlackLine Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of BlackLine stock opened at $52.26 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.27 billion, a PE ratio of 53.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.14 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 2.69. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.77. BlackLine has a 52-week low of $43.37 and a 52-week high of $69.31.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The technology company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.29). BlackLine had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 31.02%. On average, analysts anticipate that BlackLine will post 1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CRO Mark Woodhams sold 24,408 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.32, for a total transaction of $1,569,922.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now owns 72,920 shares in the company, valued at $4,690,214.40. This trade represents a 25.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 9.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackLine

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in BlackLine by 58.5% in the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 38,200 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,321,000 after purchasing an additional 14,100 shares during the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP bought a new stake in shares of BlackLine in the 4th quarter worth about $244,000. Shannon River Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackLine in the 4th quarter worth about $19,827,000. Senvest Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackLine in the 4th quarter worth about $1,665,000. Finally, Mariner LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackLine in the 4th quarter valued at about $263,000. 95.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.