BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Shares of BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $62.89, but opened at $66.25. BlackLine shares last traded at $65.18, with a volume of 112,995 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BL. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $86.00 target price on shares of BlackLine in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of BlackLine from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of BlackLine from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler lowered BlackLine from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on BlackLine from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.10.

BlackLine Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $4.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 13.52 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.42, a current ratio of 2.69 and a quick ratio of 2.69.

Insider Activity

In other news, CRO Mark Woodhams sold 24,408 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive now owns 72,920 shares in the company, valued at $4,690,214.40. This represents a 25.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 9.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackLine

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in BlackLine by 13.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 290,775 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,033,000 after buying an additional 34,919 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of BlackLine by 307.5% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,452 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $907,000 after buying an additional 12,415 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in BlackLine by 61.9% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 25,677 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,416,000 after acquiring an additional 9,820 shares during the period. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of BlackLine in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,506,000. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of BlackLine by 74.0% during the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 204,328 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $12,335,000 after acquiring an additional 86,931 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.13% of the company’s stock.

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.