Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Trims Stake in BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lowered its holdings in BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL) by 9.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,783 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,900 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. owned 0.06% of BlackLine worth $2,359,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,658,540 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $369,349,000 after buying an additional 380,614 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings 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. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,298,929 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $69,908,000 after buying an additional 13,731 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 40.7% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,296,306 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $87,203,000 after buying an additional 374,813 shares during the period. Finally, Meritage Group LP purchased a new stake in shares of BlackLine in the 3rd quarter valued at $59,530,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at BlackLine

In related news, Director Thomas Unterman sold 750 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 51,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,088,200. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other BlackLine news, Director Kevin B. Thompson sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total transaction of $258,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $632,500. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Unterman sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 51,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,088,200. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 9.93% of the company’s stock.

BlackLine Trading Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ:BL opened at $57.37 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.13. The stock has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a P/E ratio of -573.70, a P/E/G ratio of 10.19 and a beta of 0.86. BlackLine, Inc. has a 1 year low of $47.26 and a 1 year high of $69.31. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $155.73 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $154.24 million. BlackLine had a positive return on equity of 2.15% and a negative net margin of 1.50%. As a group, analysts anticipate that BlackLine, Inc. will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BL shares. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $81.00 price objective on shares of BlackLine in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on BlackLine from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. William Blair downgraded BlackLine from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on BlackLine from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on BlackLine from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackLine currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.80.

BlackLine Company Profile

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.