Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 9,553 Shares of Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLKB)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its stake in Blackbaud, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLKB) by 56.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & 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 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Blackbaud in the first quarter worth $720,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Blackbaud by 2.8% during the 1st 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. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in Blackbaud by 20.0% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blackbaud by 1,107.5% in the first quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 33,908 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,514,000 after buying an additional 31,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blackbaud during the second quarter valued at approximately $4,262,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Blackbaud Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of BLKB stock opened at $81.00 on Friday. Blackbaud, Inc. has a 1 year low of $66.47 and a 1 year high of $88.56. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $83.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.89. The company has a market cap of $4.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.41 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

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

Blackbaud announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, July 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $800.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 18.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kevin Mcdearis sold 3,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.16, for a total value of $273,363.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 63,802 shares in the company, valued at $5,433,378.32. The trade was a 4.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Kevin P. Gregoire sold 6,619 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.68, for a total value of $567,115.92. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 99,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,490,545.28. This represents a 6.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 41,186 shares of company stock worth $3,459,942. Company insiders own 1.95% of the company’s stock.

Blackbaud 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.