BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) Shares Gap Down on Disappointing Earnings

BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL) shares gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday following a weaker than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $63.40, but opened at $54.05. BlackLine shares last traded at $52.48, with a volume of 1,039,943 shares trading hands.

The technology company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.29). BlackLine had a return on equity of 31.02% and a net margin of 19.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BL has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup raised shares of BlackLine from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of BlackLine from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price 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. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $86.00 target price on shares of BlackLine in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of BlackLine from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value of $1,569,922.56. Following the sale, the executive now owns 72,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,690,214.40. This represents a 25.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 9.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackLine

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in BlackLine by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 6,475 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $393,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in BlackLine by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 15,322 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $931,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in BlackLine by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 25,100 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,525,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in BlackLine by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,266 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.13% of the company’s stock.

BlackLine Stock Down 17.6 %

The business’s 50 day moving average is $61.84 and its 200 day moving average is $56.69. The company has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.31, a PEG 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.

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.