Insider Selling: Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLKB) Director Sells 1,600 Shares of Stock

Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLKB) Director Sarah E. Nash sold 1,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.46, for a total transaction of $133,536.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 22,123 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,846,385.58. The trade was a 6.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Blackbaud Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of BLKB traded up $2.35 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $85.37. The stock had a trading volume of 261,287 shares, compared to its average volume of 232,265. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.39 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s fifty day moving average is $83.48 and its 200 day moving average is $80.02. Blackbaud, Inc. has a 52-week low of $66.47 and a 52-week high of $88.56.

Blackbaud (NASDAQ:BLKB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.07 by ($0.08). Blackbaud had a net margin of 4.61% and a return on equity of 20.34%. The firm had revenue of $286.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $293.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.65 earnings per share. Blackbaud’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Blackbaud, Inc. will post 2.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackbaud announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, July 30th that allows the company to repurchase $800.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 18.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackbaud

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. US Bancorp DE increased its position in Blackbaud by 22.6% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 6,449 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $478,000 after buying an additional 1,190 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Blackbaud by 1.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,646,203 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $418,609,000 after purchasing an additional 71,619 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in Blackbaud by 20.0% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 318,506 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $23,614,000 after acquiring an additional 53,110 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its stake in Blackbaud by 125.0% in the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 56,240 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,170,000 after acquiring an additional 31,240 shares during the period. Finally, Pitcairn Co. grew its position in Blackbaud by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 6,344 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $470,000 after acquiring an additional 621 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLKB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Baird R W lowered shares of Blackbaud from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Blackbaud from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Blackbaud to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James reduced their price objective on Blackbaud from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Blackbaud from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $92.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Blackbaud presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.67.

About Blackbaud

Blackbaud, Inc provides cloud software solutions to nonprofits, foundations, education institutions, and healthcare organizations in the United States and internationally. The company offers fundraising and engagement solutions, such as Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT, Blackbaud CRM, Blackbaud eTapestry, Blackbaud Luminate Online, Blackbaud TeamRaiser, JustGiving, Blackbaud Fundraiser Performance Management, Blackbaud Guided Fundraising, and Blackbaud Altru; and financial management solutions comprising Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT, Blackbaud Tuition Management, and Blackbaud Financial Aid and Billing Management.