Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLKB) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLKB) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $86.67.

BLKB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Blackbaud from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Evercore ISI raised Blackbaud to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Baird R W downgraded Blackbaud from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Blackbaud from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Blackbaud from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $92.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackbaud news, CEO Michael P. Gianoni sold 12,325 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.25, for a total transaction of $1,026,056.25. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 389,539 shares in the company, valued at $32,429,121.75. The trade was a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Anthony W. Boor sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.85, for a total value of $848,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 140,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,901,230.70. The trade was a 6.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 75,390 shares of company stock valued at $6,369,938 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.95% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackbaud

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in Blackbaud by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 11,977 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $912,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its stake in shares of Blackbaud by 0.6% during the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 24,152 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,045,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Blackbaud by 6.2% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,140 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $239,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV lifted its stake in Blackbaud by 2.1% in the second quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 11,164 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $850,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in Blackbaud by 6.4% in the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 4,879 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $413,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the period. 94.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackbaud Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BLKB opened at $87.47 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $83.65 and a 200 day moving average of $80.19. The company has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a PE ratio of 85.75 and a beta of 1.03. Blackbaud has a 12-month low of $66.47 and a 12-month high of $88.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79.

Blackbaud (NASDAQ:BLKB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The technology company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $286.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $293.74 million. Blackbaud had a return on equity of 20.34% and a net margin of 4.61%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Blackbaud will post 2.6 EPS for the current year.

Blackbaud declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, July 30th that allows the company to repurchase $800.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 18.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Blackbaud Company Profile

Blackbaud, Inc provides cloud software solutions to nonprofits, foundations, education institutions, and healthcare organizations in the United States and internationally. The company offers fundraising and engagement solutions, such as Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT, Blackbaud CRM, Blackbaud eTapestry, Blackbaud Luminate Online, Blackbaud TeamRaiser, JustGiving, Blackbaud Fundraiser Performance Management, Blackbaud Guided Fundraising, and Blackbaud Altru; and financial management solutions comprising Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT, Blackbaud Tuition Management, and Blackbaud Financial Aid and Billing Management.