Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) Stock Price

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) had its price target reduced by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $65.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the technology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential upside of 43.11% from the stock’s previous close.

BL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of BlackLine from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. DA Davidson decreased their target price on BlackLine from $58.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Bank of America raised shares of BlackLine from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler decreased 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, February 12th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $86.00 price objective on shares of BlackLine in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.64.

BlackLine Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of BL stock traded up $0.18 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $45.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 112,838 shares, compared to its average volume of 807,374. BlackLine has a one year low of $40.82 and a one year high of $66.25. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $49.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.26. The company has a market cap of $2.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The technology company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.29). BlackLine had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 21.63%. Analysts anticipate that BlackLine will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at BlackLine

In related news, CRO Mark Woodhams sold 9,088 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.67, for a total value of $451,400.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now owns 65,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,249,113.38. This represents a 12.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 9.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackLine

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wesbanco Bank Inc. bought a new position in BlackLine in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,065,000. Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 21.6% during the first quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 7,834 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of BlackLine by 100,075.0% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 8,014 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $388,000 after buying an additional 8,006 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of BlackLine by 0.6% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 146,839 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,110,000 after buying an additional 815 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of BlackLine by 3,665.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,871 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,156,000 after acquiring an additional 23,237 shares during the last quarter. 95.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BlackLine Company Profile

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.