Renaissance Technologies LLC Purchases New Stake in Blackbaud, Inc. $BLKB

Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLKB) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 34,997 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,351,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BLKB. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Blackbaud by 143,409.7% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,207,179 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $139,759,000 after acquiring an additional 2,205,641 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Blackbaud during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,846,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Blackbaud by 157.3% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 767,792 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $48,617,000 after purchasing an additional 469,391 shares during the last quarter. Shapiro Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Blackbaud by 248.3% during the third quarter. Shapiro Capital Management LLC now owns 419,189 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,958,000 after purchasing an additional 298,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Blackbaud by 886.2% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 159,729 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,911,000 after purchasing an additional 143,533 shares in the last quarter. 94.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLKB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 price target on Blackbaud in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Blackbaud from $45.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Blackbaud from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Blackbaud in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackbaud currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.50.

Insider Transactions at Blackbaud

In other news, CFO Chad Anderson sold 6,205 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.31, for a total value of $194,278.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 62,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,968,428.39. This represents a 8.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Kevin P. Gregoire sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.50, for a total transaction of $1,001,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 113,194 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,150,327. This trade represents a 16.27% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 2.01% of the company’s stock.

Blackbaud Stock Up 3.4%

Shares of BLKB opened at $46.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.82, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83. Blackbaud, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.58 and a 52 week high of $70.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.44, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $33.20 and a 200-day moving average of $38.25.

Blackbaud (NASDAQ:BLKB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The technology company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.10. Blackbaud had a return on equity of 197.49% and a net margin of 13.12%.The business had revenue of $290.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $292.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.21 EPS. Blackbaud’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Blackbaud has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.150-5.250 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Blackbaud, Inc. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Blackbaud Company Profile

Blackbaud, Inc is a leading provider of cloud software, services and data intelligence solutions designed specifically for the social good community. The company’s main offerings include fundraising and relationship management platforms, financial management systems, grant and award management tools, and advanced analytics. Its flagship products—such as Raiser’s Edge NXT, Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT and Blackbaud NetCommunity—help nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, healthcare providers and foundations streamline donor engagement, optimize financial operations and measure program impact.

Founded in 1981 and headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina, Blackbaud has grown from a small technology startup into a global specialist in nonprofit software.