BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) Shares Gap Up Following Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Shares of BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $44.09, but opened at $48.80. BlackLine shares last traded at $49.20, with a volume of 157,770 shares trading hands.

The technology company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.08. BlackLine had a net margin of 2.30% and a return on equity of 9.07%. The company had revenue of $160.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $158.21 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.69) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BL. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of BlackLine from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $81.00 price objective on shares of BlackLine in a research note on Monday, July 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of BlackLine from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of BlackLine from $61.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, William Blair upgraded shares of BlackLine to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Owen Ryan acquired 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $49.88 per share, for a total transaction of $149,640.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 145,948 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,279,886.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Owen Ryan acquired 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $49.88 per share, for a total transaction of $149,640.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 145,948 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,279,886.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Mark Partin sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.38, for a total value of $2,369,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 229,341 shares in the company, valued at $10,866,176.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CWM LLC boosted its stake in BlackLine by 94.8% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 452 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackLine during the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackLine during the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackLine during the second quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of BlackLine by 29.4% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,495 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the period. 95.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BlackLine Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $3.06 billion, a PE ratio of 213.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.32 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.08, a current ratio of 2.30 and a quick ratio of 2.30. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $46.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.66.

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.