Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE) Shares Down 4.7% – What’s Next?

Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE)’s stock price traded down 4.7% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $13.29 and last traded at $13.1390. Approximately 155,863 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 93% from the average daily volume of 2,123,841 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.79.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on BLZE shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Backblaze in a report on Monday. William Blair raised shares of Backblaze from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Craig Hallum upgraded shares of Backblaze from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $6.50 to $16.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price target on shares of Backblaze in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Backblaze in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Backblaze has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.71.

Backblaze Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $805.88 million, a P/E ratio of -38.23 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The company’s 50-day moving average is $15.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.77.

Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.06. Backblaze had a negative net margin of 13.07% and a negative return on equity of 16.73%. The business had revenue of $42.71 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.94 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Backblaze, Inc. will post -0.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Backblaze

In related news, CFO Marc Suidan sold 2,110 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.82, for a total value of $33,380.20. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 349,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,529,374.76. The trade was a 0.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Gleb Budman sold 12,855 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.82, for a total value of $203,366.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,192,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,679,069.46. The trade was a 0.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Corporate insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Backblaze

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BLZE. Whetstone Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Backblaze by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Whetstone Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,520,055 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,083,000 after buying an additional 59,263 shares during the period. AWM Investment Company Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Backblaze in the 2nd quarter valued at about $22,207,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Backblaze by 44.6% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,172,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,046,000 after purchasing an additional 361,905 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Backblaze by 152.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 517,586 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,785,000 after purchasing an additional 312,459 shares during the period. Finally, Perkins Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Backblaze by 21.6% in the first quarter. Perkins Capital Management Inc. now owns 339,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,170,000 after purchasing an additional 60,250 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.03% of the company’s stock.

About Backblaze

Backblaze, Inc provides cloud storage and data backup services for businesses, developers and individual users. Its platform is designed to help customers store, protect, manage and recover data through scalable cloud-based infrastructure.

The company’s principal offerings include Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, an object-storage service used for applications, content distribution, backup, archiving and disaster recovery, and Backblaze Computer Backup, which helps individuals and organizations back up data from computers.