Truist Financial Issues Positive Forecast for BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) Stock Price

Key Points

• Truist Financial raised its target price for BlackLine's stock from $45.00 to $50.00, while maintaining a "hold" rating, indicating a potential downside of 2.33% from the stock's previous close.
• A range of brokerages have issued ratings on BlackLine, with seven analysts rating it as a buy, while two have rated it a sell and six hold, leading to an average target price of $61.64.
• BlackLine reported earnings of $0.51 EPS for its last quarter, beating analyst expectations, with quarterly revenue up by 7.2% compared to the same period last year.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL - Get Free Report) had its target price hoisted by equities researchers at Truist Financial from $45.00 to $50.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "hold" rating on the technology company's stock. Truist Financial's price target indicates a potential downside of 2.33% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on BL. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on BlackLine in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $58.00 target price for the company. Raymond James Financial raised shares of BlackLine from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $67.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of BlackLine from $51.00 to $43.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen cut BlackLine from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on BlackLine from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $61.64.

BlackLine Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BL traded down $0.81 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $51.20. 113,415 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 734,693. The company's 50 day moving average price is $55.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.69, a PEG ratio of 8.99 and a beta of 0.91. BlackLine has a 52-week low of $40.82 and a 52-week high of $66.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.01. BlackLine had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 15.98%. The business had revenue of $172.03 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $170.87 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.58 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that BlackLine will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CRO Mark Woodhams sold 1,856 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.65, for a total value of $101,430.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive owned 61,390 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,354,963.50. This represents a 2.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Michelle D. Stalick sold 795 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.14, for a total value of $43,836.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 25,235 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,391,457.90. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 8.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BL. Bridgewater Associates LP bought a new stake in BlackLine during the fourth quarter valued at $244,000. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in BlackLine by 59.2% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 53,811 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,270,000 after acquiring an additional 20,008 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of BlackLine by 7.8% during the first quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 159,076 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $7,702,000 after purchasing an additional 11,549 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in shares of BlackLine by 62.9% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 96,597 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,869,000 after acquiring an additional 37,285 shares during the period. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC boosted its stake in BlackLine by 21.6% during the 1st quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 7,834 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.13% 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.