Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL) by 13.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 290,775 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,919 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in BlackLine were worth $16,033,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BlackLine by 9.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,380,961 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $476,662,000 after purchasing an additional 642,772 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in BlackLine by 24.9% in the third quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,759,098 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $96,997,000 after acquiring an additional 350,143 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in BlackLine in the second quarter worth $15,128,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in BlackLine by 65.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 579,481 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,076,000 after acquiring an additional 229,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in BlackLine by 3,027.3% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 224,944 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $12,403,000 after acquiring an additional 217,751 shares in the last quarter. 95.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on BlackLine from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on BlackLine from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. BTIG Research dropped their price target on BlackLine from $71.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on BlackLine from $72.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on BlackLine from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.60.

BlackLine Stock Down 2.1 %

BL opened at $59.31 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.42. The firm has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.52, a PEG ratio of 15.28 and a beta of 0.90. BlackLine, Inc. has a 52 week low of $43.37 and a 52 week high of $69.31. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.75.

Insider Activity at BlackLine

In other BlackLine news, CFO Mark Partin sold 85,308 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.84, for a total value of $4,678,290.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 226,844 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,440,124.96. This trade represents a 27.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Karole Morgan-Prager sold 27,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.06, for a total value of $1,626,364.74. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 113,865 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,838,731.90. The trade was a 19.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 135,495 shares of company stock valued at $7,560,534 over the last quarter. Insiders own 9.93% of the company’s stock.

BlackLine Company Profile

BlackLine, Inc provides cloud-based solutions to automate and streamline accounting and finance operations worldwide. It offers financial close management solutions, such as account reconciliations that provides a centralized workspace for users to collaborate on account reconciliations; transaction matching that analyzes and reconciles individual transactions; task management to create and manage processes and task lists; and financial reporting analytics that enables analysis and validation of financial data.