Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price target on shares of Backblaze in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Backblaze in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Backblaze from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Backblaze in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Finally, B. Riley Financial lifted their price target on Backblaze from $16.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.71.

Backblaze Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BLZE opened at $13.16 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.84. The firm has a market cap of $814.60 million, a PE ratio of -38.70 and a beta of 1.56. Backblaze has a twelve month low of $3.26 and a twelve month high of $23.99.

Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $42.71 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.94 million. Backblaze had a negative return on equity of 16.73% and a negative net margin of 13.07%. Analysts expect that Backblaze will post -0.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Backblaze

In other news, CEO Gleb Budman sold 12,855 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.82, for a total transaction of $203,366.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,192,103 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,679,069.46. This represents a 0.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Marc Suidan sold 2,110 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.82, for a total value of $33,380.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 349,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,529,374.76. The trade was a 0.60% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 4.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Backblaze

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLZE. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Backblaze in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $295,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Backblaze during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $77,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its position in Backblaze by 385.1% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 155,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,465,000 after purchasing an additional 123,382 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in Backblaze by 83.8% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 787 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AXQ Capital LP acquired a new position in Backblaze during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $314,000. 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.