Blackbaud (NASDAQ:BLKB) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Baird R W

Blackbaud (NASDAQ:BLKB) was downgraded by stock analysts at Baird R W from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Zacks.com reports.

BLKB has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Blackbaud from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Blackbaud to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James dropped 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Blackbaud from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $92.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.67.

Blackbaud Trading Up 1.6 %

BLKB opened at $75.51 on Thursday. Blackbaud has a twelve month low of $64.74 and a twelve month high of $88.56. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.03 and a beta of 1.02.

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

Blackbaud announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, July 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $800.00 million in 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 often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Blackbaud

In other news, SVP Jon W. Olson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total transaction of $170,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 24,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,042,125. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Jon W. Olson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total transaction of $170,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 24,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,042,125. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Jon W. Olson sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total transaction of $304,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 29,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,251,728. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,409 shares of company stock valued at $4,483,193 in the last quarter. 1.95% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Blackbaud by 12.7% in the first quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,195,891 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $88,663,000 after purchasing an additional 135,103 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Blackbaud by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,646,203 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $418,609,000 after buying an additional 71,619 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Blackbaud by 306.3% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 86,747 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,245,000 after buying an additional 65,395 shares in the last quarter. Kestrel Investment Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Blackbaud in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,795,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Blackbaud by 2,240.8% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 63,411 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,830,000 after buying an additional 60,702 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.21% of the company’s stock.

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.