Marshall Wace LLP Cuts Position in BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL)

Marshall Wace LLP decreased its position in BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL - Free Report) by 18.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 75,947 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 16,979 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP owned approximately 0.12% of BlackLine worth $4,615,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BL. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position 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 worth $16,033,000 after purchasing an additional 34,919 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of BlackLine by 35.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,666,591 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $91,896,000 after acquiring an additional 435,271 shares during the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of BlackLine by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,113,882 shares of the technology company's stock worth $128,439,000 after buying an additional 354,784 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in BlackLine by 154.1% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,159 shares of the technology company's stock worth $253,000 after acquiring an additional 2,522 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of BlackLine by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 147,381 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $8,955,000 after purchasing an additional 8,558 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on BL shares. Bank of America raised shares of BlackLine from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of BlackLine from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of BlackLine from $55.00 to $40.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on BlackLine from $58.00 to $55.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on BlackLine from $80.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackLine presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $60.00.

Insider Transactions at BlackLine

In other news, CRO Mark Woodhams sold 9,088 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.67, for a total transaction of $451,400.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now owns 65,414 shares in the company, valued at $3,249,113.38. This trade represents a 12.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 8.60% of the company's stock.

BlackLine Price Performance

Shares of BL traded up $0.99 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $47.84. 228,281 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 802,690. The stock has a market cap of $3.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 0.97. BlackLine, Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.82 and a 1-year high of $66.25. The company has a 50 day moving average of $47.46 and a 200-day moving average of $55.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 2.59.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The technology company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 0.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.