Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

by · The Markets Daily

Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE – Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,070,000 shares, a decrease of 16.4% from the October 15th total of 1,280,000 shares. Approximately 3.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 244,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Backblaze Stock Down 4.3 %

NASDAQ:BLZE traded down $0.28 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $6.28. 174,401 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 242,227. Backblaze has a twelve month low of $4.91 and a twelve month high of $12.65. The business has a 50-day moving average of $6.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $6.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by ($0.18). The firm had revenue of $32.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.54 million. Backblaze had a negative return on equity of 100.67% and a negative net margin of 37.13%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.43) EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Backblaze will post -0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Backblaze

In other news, CEO Gleb Budman sold 4,527 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.45, for a total transaction of $29,199.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,874,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,093,537.15. The trade was a 0.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Tina Cessna sold 3,894 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.45, for a total transaction of $25,116.30. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 153,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $989,688. The trade was a 2.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,483 shares of company stock valued at $202,890 over the last 90 days. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Backblaze by 117.0% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 689,599 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,052,000 after buying an additional 371,851 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Backblaze in the second quarter valued at $701,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in Backblaze during the 2nd quarter worth $102,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Backblaze by 165.7% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 18,102 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,000 after purchasing an additional 11,289 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Backblaze in the 1st quarter valued at about $643,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLZE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Backblaze from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Craig Hallum upped their price target on Backblaze from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Backblaze from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th.

Get Our Latest Analysis on Backblaze

Backblaze Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Backblaze, Inc, a storage cloud platform, provides businesses and consumers cloud services to store, use, and protect data in the United States and internationally. The company offers cloud services through a web-scale software infrastructure built on commodity hardware. It also provides Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, which enables customers to store data, developers to build applications, and partners to expand their use cases.

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