Blend Labs, Inc. (NYSE:BLND) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Blend Labs, Inc. (NYSE:BLND) was the target of a large decline in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,750,000 shares, a decline of 6.8% from the September 30th total of 15,830,000 shares. Currently, 7.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,890,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.1 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BLND has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Blend Labs from $3.00 to $3.40 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Blend Labs from $3.00 to $4.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Blend Labs from $3.00 to $3.25 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. William Blair raised shares of Blend Labs from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised shares of Blend Labs from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $3.00 to $4.75 in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3.94.

Insider Activity at Blend Labs

In other news, insider Winnie Ling sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.06, for a total transaction of $40,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 279,169 shares in the company, valued at $1,133,426.14. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 54,303 shares of company stock worth $192,926. Corporate insiders own 13.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Blend Labs in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Xponance Inc. purchased a new stake in Blend Labs in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Caxton Associates LP purchased a new stake in Blend Labs in the 1st quarter valued at about $60,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Blend Labs in the 1st quarter valued at about $70,000. Finally, Team Hewins LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Blend Labs in the 1st quarter worth approximately $87,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

Blend Labs Price Performance

Shares of Blend Labs stock opened at $3.63 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $3.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $921.62 million, a PE ratio of -7.40 and a beta of 1.15. Blend Labs has a 1-year low of $1.16 and a 1-year high of $4.25.

Blend Labs (NYSE:BLND) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $40.48 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.50 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Blend Labs will post -0.27 EPS for the current year.

About Blend Labs

Blend Labs, Inc engages in the provision of cloud-based software platform solutions for financial services firms in the United States. It operates in two segments, Blend Platform and Title365. The company's Blend Builder Platform offers a suite of products that powers digital-first consumer journeys for mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, vehicle loans, personal loans, credit cards, and deposit accounts; and offers mortgage products to facilitate the homeownership journey for consumers comprising close, income verification for mortgage, homeowners' insurance, and realty.