Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 782,300 shares, a decrease of 11.9% from the November 15th total of 888,200 shares. Currently, 2.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 342,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Backblaze Price Performance

Shares of Backblaze stock traded up $0.04 during trading on Monday, hitting $6.80. 26,081 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 365,149. Backblaze has a twelve month low of $4.91 and a twelve month high of $12.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $301.92 million, a PE ratio of -6.09 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $6.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $6.42.

Backblaze (NASDAQ:BLZE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $32.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.54 million. Backblaze had a negative net margin of 37.13% and a negative return on equity of 100.67%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.43) earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Backblaze will post -1.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Craig Hallum upped their price objective on shares of Backblaze from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Backblaze from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th.

Insider Activity at Backblaze

In other news, VP Tina Cessna sold 8,874 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.42, for a total transaction of $56,971.08. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 144,566 shares in the company, valued at $928,113.72. The trade was a 5.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gleb Budman sold 10,321 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.42, for a total transaction of $66,260.82. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,864,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,971,027.32. This trade represents a 0.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BLZE. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Backblaze by 50.6% during the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 1,094,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,742,000 after acquiring an additional 367,500 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Backblaze during the third quarter valued at $944,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Backblaze by 29.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 606,313 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,874,000 after acquiring an additional 138,917 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Backblaze during the second quarter valued at $701,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Backblaze by 45.5% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 339,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,172,000 after buying an additional 106,285 shares during the last quarter. 54.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Backblaze Company Profile

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.