American Century Companies Inc. Increases Position in BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL) by 12,538.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 896,665 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 889,570 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in BlackLine were worth $54,481,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BL. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of BlackLine by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 6,475 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $393,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in BlackLine by 41.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 634 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in BlackLine by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 15,322 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $931,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its position in BlackLine by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 25,100 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,525,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of BlackLine by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,266 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at BlackLine

In related 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 transaction of $451,400.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 65,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,249,113.38. This trade represents a 12.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 9.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America upgraded BlackLine from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $50.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on BlackLine from $68.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of BlackLine from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of BlackLine from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $86.00 price objective on shares of BlackLine in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackLine has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.40.

BlackLine Stock Performance

Shares of BL opened at $50.52 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 2.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.17 billion, a PE ratio of 34.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 1.03. BlackLine, Inc. has a one year low of $43.37 and a one year high of $69.09.

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) last released 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, analysts anticipate that BlackLine, Inc. will post 0.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BlackLine Company 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.