Norges Bank Invests $7 Million in BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL)

Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 115,182 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,998,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 13.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 290,775 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $16,033,000 after acquiring an additional 34,919 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 435,271 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 20.2% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackLine by 154.1% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,159 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $253,000 after buying an additional 2,522 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 147,381 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,955,000 after buying an additional 8,558 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America raised BlackLine from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on BlackLine from $68.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of BlackLine from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of BlackLine from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of BlackLine from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have issued 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 $64.27.

Insider Activity

In other news, CRO Mark Woodhams sold 9,088 shares of BlackLine stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.67, for a total value of $451,400.96. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 9.93% of the company’s stock.

BlackLine Stock Down 1.3 %

BL opened at $42.27 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $51.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.15, a PEG ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 0.97. BlackLine, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.82 and a fifty-two week high of $69.09. 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) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The technology company reported $0.21 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%. On average, research analysts expect that BlackLine, Inc. will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current year.

About BlackLine

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.