Brown Advisory Inc. Boosts Stake in BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL)

Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL - Free Report) by 38.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 783,437 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 218,976 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. owned 1.25% of BlackLine worth $47,602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BL. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in BlackLine by 20.2% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,113,882 shares of the technology company's stock worth $128,439,000 after purchasing an additional 354,784 shares during the period. Topline Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackLine in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,572,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackLine by 12,538.0% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 896,665 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $54,481,000 after acquiring an additional 889,570 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of BlackLine by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 745,397 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $45,290,000 after purchasing an additional 96,523 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in BlackLine by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 721,831 shares of the technology company's stock worth $43,858,000 after acquiring an additional 58,365 shares during the period. 95.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of BlackLine from $51.00 to $43.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com raised BlackLine from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $86.00 target price on shares of BlackLine in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of BlackLine from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on BlackLine from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $60.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CRO Mark Woodhams sold 9,088 shares of BlackLine stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.67, for a total transaction of $451,400.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 65,414 shares in the company, valued at $3,249,113.38. This trade represents a 12.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 8.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BlackLine Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ BL traded up $0.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $53.17. 761,967 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 806,478. The stock has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.67, a P/E/G ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 2.69. BlackLine, Inc. has a one year low of $40.82 and a one year high of $66.25. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.14.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The technology company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.29). BlackLine had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 21.63%. On average, analysts anticipate that BlackLine, Inc. will post 0.9 EPS for the current year.

BlackLine Company Profile

BlackLine, Inc operates a cloud-based software platform which is designed to transform accounting and finance operations for organizations of all types and sizes. Its scalable platform supports critical accounting processes such as the financial close, account reconciliations, intercompany accounting, and controls assurance.