First Trust Advisors LP Purchases 79,369 Shares of Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLKB)

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLKB - Free Report) by 28.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 356,243 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 79,369 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.72% of Blackbaud worth $26,333,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BLKB. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Blackbaud in the fourth quarter worth about $34,168,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Blackbaud by 41.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 482,561 shares of the technology company's stock worth $35,671,000 after acquiring an additional 140,273 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Blackbaud by 63.5% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 282,250 shares of the technology company's stock worth $20,864,000 after purchasing an additional 109,630 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Blackbaud by 44.3% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 325,637 shares of the technology company's stock worth $24,071,000 after purchasing an additional 100,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Calamos Advisors LLC bought a new position in Blackbaud during the 4th quarter valued at about $6,745,000. Institutional investors own 94.21% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Blackbaud from $80.00 to $76.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Blackbaud currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $85.33.

Blackbaud Stock Performance

BLKB stock traded up $0.34 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $60.88. 103,122 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 236,362. The stock's 50-day moving average is $63.22 and its 200 day moving average is $73.88. The stock has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.34 and a beta of 1.04. Blackbaud, Inc. has a 52-week low of $53.55 and a 52-week high of $88.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.40.

Blackbaud (NASDAQ:BLKB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The technology company reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.06. Blackbaud had a positive return on equity of 26.30% and a negative net margin of 24.83%. The company had revenue of $270.66 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $268.53 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. Blackbaud's quarterly revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Blackbaud, Inc. will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Blackbaud Company Profile

Blackbaud, Inc provides cloud software solutions to nonprofits, foundations, education institutions, and healthcare organizations in the United States and internationally. The company offers fundraising and engagement solutions, such as Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT, Blackbaud CRM, Blackbaud eTapestry, Blackbaud Luminate Online, Blackbaud TeamRaiser, JustGiving, Blackbaud Fundraiser Performance Management, Blackbaud Guided Fundraising, and Blackbaud Altru; and financial management solutions comprising Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT, Blackbaud Tuition Management, and Blackbaud Financial Aid and Billing Management.