Blend Labs, Inc. (NYSE:BLND) Short Interest Up 5.8% in September

Blend Labs, Inc. (NYSE:BLND) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 13,930,000 shares, an increase of 5.8% from the August 31st total of 13,170,000 shares. Currently, 7.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 3,520,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.0 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BLND has been the topic of several recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised shares of Blend Labs from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $3.00 to $4.75 in a research note on Monday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Blend Labs from $3.00 to $3.40 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. William Blair raised shares of Blend Labs from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Blend Labs from $3.00 to $3.25 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of Blend Labs from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $3.00 to $4.75 in a report on Monday, August 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3.93.

Insider Activity at Blend Labs

In related news, insider Winnie Ling sold 10,000 shares of Blend Labs stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.06, for a total value of $40,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 279,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,133,426.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 34,303 shares of company stock worth $124,326 in the last ninety days. 11.83% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blend Labs

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BLND. ShawSpring Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blend Labs by 58.7% in the second quarter. ShawSpring Partners LLC now owns 6,716,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,850,000 after buying an additional 2,485,283 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Blend Labs by 2,656.9% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 718,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,332,000 after buying an additional 692,220 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Blend Labs by 3,799.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 654,897 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,546,000 after buying an additional 638,102 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC bought a new position in Blend Labs during the first quarter worth $1,538,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its position in Blend Labs by 253.8% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 523,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,235,000 after acquiring an additional 375,233 shares during the period. 52.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Blend Labs Stock Performance

BLND stock opened at $3.58 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $903.51 million, a P/E ratio of -6.17 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $3.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.00. Blend Labs has a 52 week low of $1.14 and a 52 week high of $4.25.

Blend Labs (NYSE:BLND) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by $0.04. Blend Labs had a negative net margin of 77.63% and a negative return on equity of 595.99%. The business had revenue of $40.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.50 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Blend Labs will post -0.27 EPS for the current year.

Blend Labs Company Profile

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.