BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) Stock Gets Price Target Reduction from Citigroup

Key Points

• Citigroup cut BlackLine’s price target from $45 to $40 but maintained its Buy rating; the new target implies about 46% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst views are mixed: BlackLine has an average Hold rating and a consensus price target of $37.58, with five Buy, five Hold, and three Sell ratings.
• BlackLine’s latest quarter showed EPS of $0.64, slightly above estimates, while revenue of $193.4 million fell short of consensus but grew 8.5% year over year.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL - Get Free Report) had its price target lowered by stock analysts at Citigroup from $45.00 to $40.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the technology company's stock. Citigroup's price target indicates a potential upside of 46.01% from the company's previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded BlackLine from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of BlackLine in a research note on Monday, October 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of BlackLine from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on BlackLine from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $36.00 price objective on shares of BlackLine in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackLine currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $37.58.

BlackLine Stock Up 5.8%

BL stock traded up $1.50 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $27.39. The company had a trading volume of 1,066,796 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,174,222. BlackLine has a fifty-two week low of $24.70 and a fifty-two week high of $59.57. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a current ratio of 1.69. The company has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.67.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 5th. The technology company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.01. BlackLine had a net margin of 5.37% and a return on equity of 23.73%. The company had revenue of $193.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $194.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that BlackLine will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at BlackLine

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackLine

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BL. ICONIQ Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackLine in the 2nd quarter worth about $58,584,000. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP raised its stake in BlackLine by 26.3% during the 1st quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 1,890,823 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $69,960,000 after acquiring an additional 393,192 shares in the last quarter. Engaged Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of BlackLine by 26.2% during the first quarter. Engaged Capital LLC now owns 1,367,619 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $50,602,000 after purchasing an additional 284,000 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of BlackLine by 20.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,063,655 shares of the technology company's stock worth $39,354,000 after buying an additional 181,577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in BlackLine in the second quarter worth approximately $27,532,000. 95.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackLine Company Profile

BlackLine, Inc provides cloud-based financial operations and accounting automation software for businesses. Its platform is designed to help accounting and finance teams manage, standardize and automate processes that traditionally rely on spreadsheets, manual data entry and disconnected systems.

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

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