BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL) Short Interest Up 65.5% in March

BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,840,000 shares, a growth of 65.5% from the February 29th total of 2,320,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 907,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.2 days. Approximately 7.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

BlackLine Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of BL stock opened at $64.58 on Friday. BlackLine has a fifty-two week low of $47.26 and a fifty-two week high of $69.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.97 billion, a P/E ratio of -645.80, a P/E/G ratio of 11.07 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.23. The company has a quick ratio of 2.19, a current ratio of 2.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.37.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) last announced 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. BlackLine had a positive return on equity of 2.15% and a negative net margin of 1.50%. The firm had revenue of $155.73 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $154.24 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BlackLine will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Thomas Unterman sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were 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 owns 51,470 shares in the company, valued at $3,088,200. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Thomas Unterman sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 51,470 shares in the company, valued at $3,088,200. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kevin B. Thompson sold 4,500 shares of BlackLine stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total transaction of $258,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $632,500. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 6,000 shares of company stock valued at $349,185 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 9.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackLine

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackLine by 94.8% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 452 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. increased its stake in shares of BlackLine by 772.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 672 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackLine during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of BlackLine by 1,101.9% in the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 625 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 573 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in BlackLine by 505.2% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 926 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 773 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on BL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of BlackLine from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of BlackLine from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of BlackLine from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of BlackLine from $65.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $81.00 target price on shares of BlackLine in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.80.

About BlackLine

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.