BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) Cut to "Underperform" at DA Davidson

Key Points

• DA Davidson downgraded BlackLine from “neutral” to “underperform” and set a $23 price target, implying 17.83% downside from the stock’s $27.99 opening price.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: BlackLine has a consensus “hold” rating and a $39.50 average price target, based on five buy, seven hold, and three sell ratings.
• BlackLine recently exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.61 in EPS and $187.82 million in revenue, while revenue increased 9.1% year over year; however, company insiders recently sold shares.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL - Get Free Report) was downgraded by stock analysts at DA Davidson from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $23.00 target price on the technology company's stock. DA Davidson's price target points to a potential downside of 17.83% from the stock's current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $36.00 target price on shares of BlackLine in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of BlackLine from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of BlackLine from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $33.00 target price (down from $50.00) on shares of BlackLine in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on BlackLine from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackLine has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.50.

BlackLine Price Performance

NASDAQ:BL opened at $27.99 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 1.72. The company's fifty day moving average price is $30.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.81. BlackLine has a 1-year low of $24.70 and a 1-year high of $59.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.11, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.66.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $187.82 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.99 million. BlackLine had a net margin of 4.75% and a return on equity of 20.89%. The firm's revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. BlackLine has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.470-2.540 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.620-0.650 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BlackLine will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Michelle D. Stalick sold 780 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.65, for a total transaction of $26,247.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 34,712 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,168,058.80. This represents a 2.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Therese Tucker sold 70,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.96, for a total transaction of $2,237,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 381,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,194,561.72. This trade represents a 15.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 9.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackLine

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackLine in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,538,000. AXQ Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of BlackLine in the second quarter valued at approximately $325,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in BlackLine during the second quarter worth approximately $220,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in BlackLine during the second quarter worth approximately $1,576,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in BlackLine during the second quarter worth $27,532,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.13% of the company's stock.

BlackLine Company Profile

BlackLine, Inc NASDAQ: BL provides cloud-based software designed to automate and modernize finance and accounting operations. Its platform helps organizations manage processes that traditionally rely on spreadsheets, manual data entry and disconnected systems, with an emphasis on improving efficiency, visibility and control.

The company's products support financial close and consolidation, account reconciliations, transaction matching, intercompany accounting, accounts receivable automation, cash application, invoice-to-cash processes, lease accounting and accounting task management.

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