American Century Companies Inc. Purchases 64,676 Shares of BlackLine $BL

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in BlackLine (NASDAQ: BL) by 7.2%, acquiring an additional 64,676 shares, bringing their total to 961,341 shares valued at approximately $46.5 million.
• Recent analyst ratings for BlackLine show mixed sentiments, with Truist Financial raising the price target to $50.00 while others downgraded the stock, leading to a consensus rating of "Hold".
• BlackLine reported a 7.2% year-over-year revenue increase in its latest earnings, with an EPS of $0.51, slightly above the consensus estimate of $0.50.

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL - Free Report) by 7.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 961,341 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 64,676 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 1.54% of BlackLine worth $46,548,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BL. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BlackLine during the 4th quarter worth about $73,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in BlackLine by 67.6% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 2,122 shares of the technology company's stock worth $103,000 after buying an additional 856 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in BlackLine by 33.9% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,919 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $141,000 after acquiring an additional 739 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd raised its position in BlackLine by 282.6% during the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 4,277 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $207,000 after acquiring an additional 3,159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mariner LLC acquired a new stake in BlackLine in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $263,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at BlackLine

In related news, CAO Michelle D. Stalick sold 795 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.14, for a total transaction of $43,836.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 25,235 shares in the company, valued at $1,391,457.90. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 8.60% of the company's stock.

BlackLine Stock Performance

Shares of BlackLine stock traded down $0.97 during trading on Monday, reaching $53.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,036,378 shares, compared to its average volume of 954,316. BlackLine has a one year low of $40.82 and a one year high of $66.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64. The firm has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.86 and a beta of 0.91. The business's fifty day moving average price is $54.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.90.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $172.03 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.87 million. BlackLine had a return on equity of 15.95% and a net margin of 13.05%.The company's revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.58 EPS. BlackLine has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.130-2.240 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 0.480-0.510 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BlackLine will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on BL. Zacks Research upgraded shares of BlackLine to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $67.00 price objective (up from $58.00) on shares of BlackLine in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. DA Davidson restated a "neutral" rating and set a $56.00 target price on shares of BlackLine in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Raymond James Financial raised BlackLine from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $67.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on BlackLine from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.08.

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.