BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Shares of BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $62.89, but opened at $66.25. BlackLine shares last traded at $65.18, with a volume of 112,995 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BL shares. Truist Financial upped their price objective on BlackLine from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on BlackLine from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on BlackLine from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of BlackLine from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $86.00 price target on shares of BlackLine in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.10.

BlackLine Trading Up 2.0 %

The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $61.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.01 billion, a PE ratio of 65.48, a P/E/G ratio of 13.52 and a beta of 0.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CRO Mark Woodhams sold 24,408 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.32, for a total transaction of $1,569,922.56. Following the sale, the executive now 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 9.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of BlackLine by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,153,275 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $284,152,000 after buying an additional 64,435 shares during the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of BlackLine by 20.2% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,113,882 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $128,439,000 after buying an additional 354,784 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of BlackLine by 35.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,666,591 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $91,896,000 after purchasing an additional 435,271 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in BlackLine by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,282,017 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $70,704,000 after buying an additional 3,498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in BlackLine by 2.8% in the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 895,810 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $49,395,000 after buying an additional 24,446 shares during the last quarter. 95.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.