First Manhattan CO. LLC. Has $39.51 Million Position in BlackLine $BL

Key Points

• First Manhattan CO. LLC significantly increased its stake in BlackLine by acquiring 655,565 shares, raising its ownership to approximately 1.31% and valued at $39.51 million.
• Several other institutional investors also raised their stakes, with BlackLine seeing an overall 95.13% ownership by institutional investors in the company.
• Research analysts have mixed ratings for BlackLine, with a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $61.08, despite some analysts raising their price targets recently.

First Manhattan CO. LLC. increased its stake in shares of BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL - Free Report) by 408.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 815,975 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 655,565 shares during the period. First Manhattan CO. LLC. owned approximately 1.31% of BlackLine worth $39,510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of BlackLine by 15.5% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 311,247 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $15,070,000 after acquiring an additional 41,653 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in BlackLine by 29.8% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 49,600 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,402,000 after purchasing an additional 11,400 shares during the period. State of Wyoming grew its holdings in BlackLine by 360.4% during the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 8,328 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 6,519 shares during the period. Virtus Advisers LLC bought a new stake in BlackLine in the first quarter valued at approximately $182,000. Finally, Comerica Bank raised its holdings in BlackLine by 6.0% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 178,344 shares of the technology company's stock worth $8,635,000 after purchasing an additional 10,114 shares during the period. 95.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on BL shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of BlackLine from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Raymond James Financial upgraded BlackLine from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $67.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on BlackLine in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $58.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on BlackLine from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on BlackLine from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackLine currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $61.08.

BlackLine Stock Up 0.9%

BlackLine stock traded up $0.46 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $53.07. The stock had a trading volume of 763,176 shares, compared to its average volume of 760,465. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $54.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.83. BlackLine has a 1-year low of $40.82 and a 1-year high of $66.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.92 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.01. BlackLine had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 15.95%. The company had revenue of $172.03 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $170.87 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.58 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. 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, analysts expect that BlackLine will post 0.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at BlackLine

In other BlackLine news, CAO Michelle D. Stalick sold 664 shares of BlackLine stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.03, for a total value of $35,875.92. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 23,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,287,534.90. The trade was a 2.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 8.60% of the company's stock.

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.