BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the twelve research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $66.40.

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of BlackLine from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Bank of America upgraded shares of BlackLine from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $50.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $86.00 price target on shares of BlackLine in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of BlackLine from $68.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of BlackLine from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BlackLine news, CRO Mark Woodhams sold 9,088 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.67, for a total transaction of $451,400.96. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 65,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,249,113.38. This trade represents a 12.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 9.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackLine

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of BlackLine by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 290,775 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $16,033,000 after acquiring an additional 34,919 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 12,415 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of BlackLine by 61.9% in the 3rd 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 purchased a new position in shares of BlackLine in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,506,000. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of BlackLine by 74.0% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 204,328 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,335,000 after acquiring an additional 86,931 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.13% of the company’s stock.

BlackLine Trading Up 5.1 %

Shares of BL opened at $49.89 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $55.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.78. BlackLine has a twelve month low of $43.37 and a twelve month high of $69.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.41, a PEG ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 1.03.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The technology company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.29). BlackLine had a return on equity of 21.63% and a net margin of 24.67%. On average, research analysts predict that BlackLine will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.