BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) Shares Gap Up to $58.39

Shares of BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $58.39, but opened at $60.22. BlackLine shares last traded at $61.37, with a volume of 73,184 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on BL. Wolfe Research began coverage on BlackLine in a report on Monday, March 18th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price target on BlackLine from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Piper Sandler raised BlackLine from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $62.00 in a research report on Tuesday. William Blair downgraded BlackLine from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on BlackLine from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.50.

BlackLine Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.37, a quick ratio of 2.19 and a current ratio of 2.19.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Thomas Unterman sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Kevin B. Thompson sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,000 shares in the company, valued at $632,500. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas Unterman sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $45,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 51,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,088,200. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackLine

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in BlackLine by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,738,189 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $420,733,000 after acquiring an additional 79,649 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackLine by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,899,804 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $118,624,000 after buying an additional 45,950 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackLine by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,414,835 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $88,342,000 after buying an additional 47,420 shares during the period. Meritage Group LP acquired a new stake in shares of BlackLine in the 3rd quarter valued at about $59,530,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of BlackLine by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 787,289 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $43,671,000 after buying an additional 112,684 shares during the period. 95.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About BlackLine

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.