Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE) Short Interest Update

Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,070,000 shares, a decline of 16.4% from the October 15th total of 1,280,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 244,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.4 days. Approximately 3.7% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Backblaze Price Performance

NASDAQ BLZE traded down $0.28 during trading on Friday, reaching $6.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 174,401 shares, compared to its average volume of 242,227. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $6.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.59. Backblaze has a twelve month low of $4.91 and a twelve month high of $12.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by ($0.18). Backblaze had a negative net margin of 37.13% and a negative return on equity of 100.67%. The company had revenue of $32.59 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.54 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.43) EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Backblaze will post -0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Backblaze from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Backblaze from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Craig Hallum lifted their price target on Backblaze from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st.

Insider Transactions at Backblaze

In other Backblaze news, CEO Gleb Budman sold 4,527 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.45, for a total transaction of $29,199.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,874,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,093,537.15. This trade represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Francis P. Patchel sold 13,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.55, for a total transaction of $85,850.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 159,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,042,209.80. The trade was a 7.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 31,483 shares of company stock valued at $202,890. Insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Backblaze

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Backblaze by 50.6% during the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 1,094,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,742,000 after buying an additional 367,500 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Backblaze by 2.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 864,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,525,000 after acquiring an additional 21,593 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Backblaze by 117.0% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 689,599 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,052,000 after purchasing an additional 371,851 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Backblaze by 29.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 606,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,874,000 after purchasing an additional 138,917 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Backblaze by 45.5% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 339,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,172,000 after purchasing an additional 106,285 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.03% of the company’s stock.

Backblaze Company Profile

Backblaze, Inc, a storage cloud platform, provides businesses and consumers cloud services to store, use, and protect data in the United States and internationally. The company offers cloud services through a web-scale software infrastructure built on commodity hardware. It also provides Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, which enables customers to store data, developers to build applications, and partners to expand their use cases.