Royce & Associates LP Purchases 709,989 Shares of Blend Labs, Inc. $BLND

Royce & Associates LP boosted its position in Blend Labs, Inc. (NYSE:BLND) by 73.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,671,240 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 709,989 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned 0.64% of Blend Labs worth $6,100,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BLND. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Blend Labs by 157.6% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,522,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,323,000 after purchasing an additional 1,543,220 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Blend Labs by 84.5% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,629,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,377,000 after buying an additional 746,213 shares during the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Blend Labs in the third quarter valued at about $3,043,000. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Blend Labs by 85.0% in the third quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 765,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,793,000 after buying an additional 351,708 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Blend Labs by 91.6% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 751,778 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,481,000 after acquiring an additional 359,311 shares during the last quarter. 52.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLND has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their target price on Blend Labs from $3.50 to $3.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Blend Labs from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Blend Labs in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $4.80.

Blend Labs Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE:BLND opened at $1.72 on Thursday. Blend Labs, Inc. has a twelve month low of $1.57 and a twelve month high of $4.49. The company has a fifty day moving average of $2.44 and a 200-day moving average of $3.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $445.47 million, a P/E ratio of -17.15 and a beta of 1.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Brian Kneafsey sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.06, for a total value of $76,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 649,824 shares in the company, valued at $1,988,461.44. This trade represents a 3.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 33,125 shares of company stock valued at $93,169 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 35.52% of the company’s stock.

Blend Labs Profile

Blend Labs, Inc operates as a financial technology company that offers a digital consumer banking platform designed to simplify and automate the lending and account opening processes for banks and credit unions. Its cloud-native software enables financial institutions to deliver a more seamless customer experience by consolidating multiple steps—such as application intake, identity verification, document collection and underwriting—into a unified digital workflow. Blend’s platform is built to integrate with existing core banking systems and third-party data providers, allowing clients to accelerate loan origination and deposit account opening while maintaining compliance and security standards.

The company’s product suite includes solutions for mortgage origination, home equity lending, consumer personal lending and deposit account opening.