Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Lowers Position in Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLKB)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLKB) by 56.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,509 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 9,553 shares during the quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Blackbaud were worth $636,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in Blackbaud by 99.4% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 6,276 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $465,000 after buying an additional 3,128 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in Blackbaud by 23.6% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 2,956 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $219,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Blackbaud in the first quarter valued at $720,000. US Bancorp DE raised its position in Blackbaud by 22.6% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 6,449 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Blackbaud by 4.5% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 10,333 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $766,000 after purchasing an additional 448 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.21% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Blackbaud

In other news, COO Kevin P. Gregoire sold 6,619 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.68, for a total value of $567,115.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 99,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,490,545.28. This represents a 6.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kevin Mcdearis sold 18,996 shares of Blackbaud stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.00, for a total value of $1,576,668.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 67,012 shares in the company, valued at $5,561,996. This represents a 22.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,186 shares of company stock worth $3,459,942 over the last quarter. 1.95% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BLKB. Baird R W cut Blackbaud from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Blackbaud from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Blackbaud to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Raymond James lowered their target price on Blackbaud from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut Blackbaud from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $92.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.67.

Blackbaud Price Performance

Shares of Blackbaud stock opened at $81.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.11 billion, a PE ratio of 79.41 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79. Blackbaud, Inc. has a 12-month low of $66.47 and a 12-month high of $88.56.

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

Blackbaud announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, July 30th that allows the company to buyback $800.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 18.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.