BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) Upgraded by Citigroup to Buy Rating

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) was upgraded by research analysts at Citigroup from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a $73.00 target price on the technology company’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective points to a potential upside of 24.42% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on BL. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $86.00 price objective on shares of BlackLine in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of BlackLine from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of BlackLine from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of BlackLine from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of BlackLine from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.00.

BlackLine Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ BL opened at $58.67 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 2.69. BlackLine has a 1 year low of $43.37 and a 1 year high of $69.31. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.77. The firm has a market cap of $3.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.87, a PEG ratio of 15.18 and a beta of 0.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Karole Morgan-Prager sold 27,079 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.06, for a total transaction of $1,626,364.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 113,865 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,838,731.90. This represents a 19.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CRO Mark Woodhams sold 24,408 shares of BlackLine stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.32, for a total transaction of $1,569,922.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 72,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,690,214.40. This represents a 25.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackLine

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quarry LP bought a new position in BlackLine in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of BlackLine by 41.2% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 634 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 31.9% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,392 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackLine during the second quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Finally, Hardy Reed LLC bought a new stake in BlackLine during the third quarter worth approximately $244,000. 95.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About BlackLine

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.