Baillie Gifford & Co. Sells 100,843 Shares of BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL)

Baillie Gifford & Co. lowered its stake in BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL - Free Report) by 25.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 297,953 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 100,843 shares during the quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned about 0.48% of BlackLine worth $18,104,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BL. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 13.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 290,775 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $16,033,000 after purchasing an additional 34,919 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 307.5% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,452 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $907,000 after purchasing an additional 12,415 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 61.9% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 25,677 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,416,000 after purchasing an additional 9,820 shares during the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of BlackLine in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,506,000. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 74.0% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 204,328 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $12,335,000 after purchasing an additional 86,931 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.13% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CRO Mark Woodhams sold 24,408 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.32, for a total transaction of $1,569,922.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 72,920 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,690,214.40. This represents a 25.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 9.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BlackLine Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BL traded down $0.15 on Friday, hitting $49.17. The company had a trading volume of 1,711,126 shares, compared to its average volume of 784,705. BlackLine, Inc. has a 1-year low of $43.37 and a 1-year high of $69.31. The stock has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.91, a P/E/G ratio of 10.64 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $59.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The technology company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.29). BlackLine had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 21.63%. Analysts expect that BlackLine, Inc. will post 0.93 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of BlackLine from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America upgraded shares of BlackLine from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of BlackLine from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of BlackLine from $68.00 to $60.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of BlackLine from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $66.40.

BlackLine 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.