BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) Shares Gap Down Following Weak Earnings

BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL) gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday following a dissappointing 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 changing hands.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on BL shares. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of BlackLine from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America upgraded shares of BlackLine from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $50.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of BlackLine from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup upgraded 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of BlackLine from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.90.

Insider Activity

In other news, CRO Mark Woodhams sold 24,408 shares of the company’s 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 directly owns 72,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,690,214.40. This represents a 25.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 9.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BL. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in BlackLine during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 568.4% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 528 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 41.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 634 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 31.9% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,392 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,266 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.13% of the company’s stock.

BlackLine Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $61.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.69. The company has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a PE ratio of 53.31, a P/E/G ratio of 9.14 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.42, a current ratio of 2.69 and a quick 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.