Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLKB) Short Interest Down 8.4% in September

Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLKB) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 604,300 shares, a decrease of 8.4% from the September 15th total of 659,400 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 186,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Kevin P. Gregoire sold 7,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.65, for a total value of $569,407.45. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 110,715 shares in the company, valued at $8,597,019.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Blackbaud news, COO Kevin P. Gregoire sold 7,333 shares of Blackbaud stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.65, for a total transaction of $569,407.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 110,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,597,019.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kevin Mcdearis sold 18,996 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.00, for a total transaction of $1,576,668.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 67,012 shares in the company, valued at $5,561,996. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 55,409 shares of company stock valued at $4,483,193. Company insiders own 1.95% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackbaud

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BLKB. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Blackbaud in the first quarter valued at approximately $720,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Blackbaud by 2.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 388,009 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,768,000 after purchasing an additional 10,555 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Blackbaud by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 264,816 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $19,633,000 after buying an additional 12,881 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Blackbaud by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 318,506 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $23,614,000 after buying an additional 53,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Blackbaud by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,574,584 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $483,316,000 after buying an additional 23,727 shares during the period. 94.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blackbaud Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ BLKB opened at $86.60 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 211.22 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.78. Blackbaud has a 1 year low of $64.32 and a 1 year high of $88.56.

Blackbaud (NASDAQ:BLKB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.04. Blackbaud had a return on equity of 18.54% and a net margin of 3.64%. The company had revenue of $287.29 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $289.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.49 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Blackbaud will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackbaud declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, July 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $800.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 18.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on BLKB shares. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Blackbaud from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of Blackbaud from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI raised Blackbaud to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Blackbaud from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.67.

About Blackbaud

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.