Royal Bank of Canada Grows Holdings in BlackLine $BL

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in BlackLine by 15.5%, now holding approximately 0.50% of the company's shares, valued at $15.07 million.
• Institutional investors hold 95.13% of BlackLine's stock, with several firms significantly increasing their positions in the past quarter.
• Recent analyst ratings for BlackLine show mixed reviews, with five analysts giving a "Buy" rating and others downgrading to "Hold" or "Sell," resulting in an average target price of $61.08.

Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL - Free Report) by 15.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 311,247 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 41,653 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.50% of BlackLine worth $15,070,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BL. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of BlackLine by 60.2% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 6,561 shares of the technology company's stock worth $399,000 after purchasing an additional 2,465 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in BlackLine by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 388,594 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $23,611,000 after buying an additional 57,708 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in BlackLine by 59.2% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 53,811 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,270,000 after buying an additional 20,008 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of BlackLine by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 32,856 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,996,000 after acquiring an additional 1,273 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of BlackLine by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 156,487 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $9,508,000 after acquiring an additional 469 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Michelle D. Stalick sold 664 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.03, for a total transaction of $35,875.92. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 23,830 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,287,534.90. This represents a 2.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 8.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of BlackLine from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of BlackLine to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $67.00 price target (up from $58.00) on shares of BlackLine in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on BlackLine from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackLine has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $60.58.

BlackLine Trading Down 1.5%

NASDAQ BL traded down $0.80 on Friday, hitting $54.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 389,133 shares, compared to its average volume of 757,372. The firm has a market cap of $3.36 billion, a PE ratio of 42.09, a PEG ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 0.95. BlackLine has a 1-year low of $40.82 and a 1-year high of $66.25. The company's 50-day moving average is $53.87 and its 200 day moving average is $52.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $172.03 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.87 million. BlackLine had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 15.95%. The company's quarterly 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, analysts predict that BlackLine will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.