Sarah E. Nash Sells 1,600 Shares of Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLKB) Stock

Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLKB) Director Sarah E. Nash sold 1,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.46, for a total transaction of $133,536.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 22,123 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,846,385.58. This trade represents a 6.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Blackbaud Price Performance

Shares of BLKB opened at $86.98 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.41 billion, a PE ratio of 85.28 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $83.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68. Blackbaud, Inc. has a twelve month low of $66.47 and a twelve month high of $88.56.

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

Blackbaud declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, July 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $800.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 18.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blackbaud

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BLKB. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC increased its position in Blackbaud by 22.5% during the third quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 1,283,473 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $108,684,000 after acquiring an additional 235,859 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Blackbaud by 56.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 429,051 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $36,332,000 after acquiring an additional 154,019 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Blackbaud by 1.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,646,203 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $418,609,000 after acquiring an additional 71,619 shares during the period. Simcoe Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Blackbaud during the third quarter worth $5,987,000. Finally, Kestrel Investment Management Corp bought a new position in Blackbaud during the second quarter worth $4,795,000. Institutional investors own 94.21% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BLKB has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Blackbaud from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Baird R W cut shares of Blackbaud from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird cut shares of Blackbaud from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $92.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Blackbaud to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Blackbaud from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.67.

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.