BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL) Shares Purchased by Los Angeles Capital Management LLC

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL) by 44.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,476 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,014 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC owned 0.10% of BlackLine worth $3,651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BL. Meritage Group LP acquired a new stake in BlackLine in the 3rd quarter worth about $59,530,000. UBS Group AG increased its position in shares of BlackLine by 855.5% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 657,004 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $36,444,000 after purchasing an additional 588,245 shares in the last quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP acquired a new position in BlackLine in the 3rd quarter valued at $21,853,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 380,614 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new position in BlackLine in the 3rd quarter valued at $13,130,000. 95.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at BlackLine

In other news, Director Kevin B. Thompson sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value of $258,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $632,500. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CRO Mark Woodhams sold 2,877 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total transaction of $166,866.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 104,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,556. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kevin B. Thompson sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value of $258,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $632,500. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on BL shares. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of BlackLine in a research report on Monday, March 18th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on BlackLine from $65.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Piper Sandler raised BlackLine from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Citigroup reduced their price target on BlackLine from $66.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, William Blair lowered shares of BlackLine from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.56.

BlackLine Price Performance

BlackLine stock opened at $60.91 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.54. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $47.26 and a 1 year high of $69.31. The company has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -609.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.82 and a beta of 0.87.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $155.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $154.24 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BlackLine, Inc. will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackLine 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.