Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Buys 611,499 Shares of BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL)

by · The Cerbat Gem

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its stake in BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL – Free Report) by 106.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,186,347 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 611,499 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned about 1.88% of BlackLine worth $57,443,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BL. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 88.5% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 17,248 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,048,000 after buying an additional 8,100 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in BlackLine during the fourth quarter worth about $6,998,000. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in BlackLine by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 104,564 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,353,000 after acquiring an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackLine in the fourth quarter valued at about $290,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 22.1% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 22,007 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,337,000 after acquiring an additional 3,987 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.13% of the company’s stock.

BlackLine Stock Performance

BL opened at $54.43 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $55.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.11. 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 quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.39 billion, a PE ratio of 39.44, a PEG ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 0.91.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $172.03 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $170.87 million. BlackLine had a return on equity of 18.70% and a net margin of 23.60%. The business’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.58 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BlackLine will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BL shares. DA Davidson upgraded BlackLine to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $67.00 price target (up previously from $58.00) on shares of BlackLine in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. 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 report on Tuesday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of BlackLine from $51.00 to $43.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of BlackLine from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.79.

Read Our Latest Report on BlackLine

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CRO Mark Woodhams sold 1,856 shares of BlackLine stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive owned 61,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,354,963.50. This trade represents a 2.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Michelle D. Stalick sold 795 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.14, for a total transaction of $43,836.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 25,235 shares in the company, valued at $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. Company insiders own 8.60% of the company’s stock.

About BlackLine

(Free Report)

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.

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