BlackLine Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:BL)

BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders bought 3,165 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 143% compared to the average volume of 1,301 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on BL shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of BlackLine from $61.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of BlackLine from $66.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. William Blair upgraded shares of BlackLine to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of BlackLine from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of BlackLine in a report on Monday, March 18th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BlackLine has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.56.

Insider Transactions at BlackLine

In other news, CRO Mark Woodhams sold 2,877 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total value of $166,866.00. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 104,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,556. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CRO Mark Woodhams sold 2,877 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.00, for a total transaction of $166,866.00. Following the sale, the executive now owns 104,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,071,556. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Owen Ryan purchased 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $49.88 per share, for a total transaction of $149,640.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 145,948 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,279,886.24. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 9.53% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackLine

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackLine by 94.8% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 452 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BlackLine during the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackLine during the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BlackLine during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of BlackLine by 505.2% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 926 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 773 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.13% of the company’s stock.

BlackLine Stock Performance

Shares of BlackLine stock opened at $46.67 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 202.91, a PEG ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 2.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.08. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $52.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.43. BlackLine has a 52 week low of $43.79 and a 52 week high of $69.31.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.10. BlackLine had a net margin of 2.30% and a return on equity of 9.07%. The company had revenue of $157.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $155.05 million. Sell-side analysts expect that BlackLine will post 1.1 EPS for the current year.

About BlackLine

BlackLine, Inc provides cloud-based solutions to automate and streamline accounting and finance operations worldwide. It offers financial close management solutions, such as account reconciliations that provides a centralized workspace for users to collaborate on account reconciliations; transaction matching that analyzes and reconciles individual transactions; task management to create and manage processes and task lists; and financial reporting analytics that enables analysis and validation of financial data.