Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Has Lowered Expectations for Blend Labs (NYSE:BLND) Stock Price

Key Points

• Keefe, Bruyette & Woods has lowered the target price for Blend Labs (NYSE:BLND) stock from $4.00 to $3.75, indicating a potential upside of 24.38% from its current price.
• Blend Labs recently reported earnings of ($0.03) per share, missing analysts' expectations of $0.02, with revenue also falling short at $31.52 million compared to the forecasted $31.93 million.
• Insider trading showed significant sales, with insider Nima Ghamsari selling 75,720 shares at an average price of $3.30, reducing their ownership in the company.

Blend Labs (NYSE:BLND - Free Report) had its price objective lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $4.00 to $3.75 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a market perform rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on BLND. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $5.25 price objective on shares of Blend Labs in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Blend Labs from $6.00 to $5.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and set a $7.00 price objective on shares of Blend Labs in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Blend Labs from $5.60 to $4.80 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Blend Labs has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $4.86.

Blend Labs Stock Performance

Shares of Blend Labs stock traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $2.84. The company's stock had a trading volume of 216,118 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,831,547. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $3.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $3.48. Blend Labs has a 12-month low of $2.63 and a 12-month high of $5.53. The company has a market cap of $736.14 million, a PE ratio of -18.89 and a beta of 1.24.

Blend Labs (NYSE:BLND - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $31.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.93 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blend Labs will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Blend Labs news, insider Brian Kneafsey sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.63, for a total transaction of $90,750.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 721,598 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,619,400.74. The trade was a 3.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Nima Ghamsari sold 75,720 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.30, for a total value of $249,876.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 6,065,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,017,592.10. This trade represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 224,850 shares of company stock valued at $763,164 in the last three months. Insiders own 35.52% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Blend Labs

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lightspeed Management Company L.L.C. purchased a new stake in Blend Labs during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $97,366,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Blend Labs by 4.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,586,601 shares of the company's stock valued at $58,915,000 after purchasing an additional 775,091 shares during the period. ShawSpring Partners LLC raised its position in Blend Labs by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. ShawSpring Partners LLC now owns 7,079,165 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,803,000 after purchasing an additional 449,175 shares during the period. Metavasi Capital LP raised its position in Blend Labs by 15.6% during the first quarter. Metavasi Capital LP now owns 5,554,101 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,606,000 after purchasing an additional 750,000 shares during the period. Finally, Whitebark Investors LP raised its position in Blend Labs by 4.6% during the second quarter. Whitebark Investors LP now owns 4,853,883 shares of the company's stock valued at $16,018,000 after purchasing an additional 214,609 shares during the period. 52.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blend Labs Company Profile

Blend Labs, Inc engages in the provision of cloud-based software platform solutions for financial services firms in the United States. It operates in two segments, Blend Platform and Title365. The company's Blend Builder Platform offers a suite of products that powers digital-first consumer journeys for mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, vehicle loans, personal loans, credit cards, and deposit accounts; and offers mortgage products to facilitate the homeownership journey for consumers comprising close, income verification for mortgage, homeowners' insurance, and realty.