Blackline (BL) Insider Sells 910 Shares for $50,050

Director Thomas Unterman executed an open-market sale of 910 shares of BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) on October 27, 2025. Following the transaction, the insider had 41,835 shares in a trust and another 58,636 held directly. The SEC Form 4 filing is here.

Transaction summary

Transaction value based on SEC Form 4 reported price ($55.00) as of; October 27, 2025; post-transaction value based on market close the same day..

Key questions

How significant was this sale relative to prior trading by Tom Unterman?
This transaction represented les than 1% of Tom Unterman's total equity holdings, following a sequence of reductions since Sep. 2023. The size was consistent with prior open-market transactions, which had a median of 750 shares from Sep. 1, 2023, to Oct. 27, 2025, though capacity constraints determined the final trade size.

Did the transaction occur at a premium or discount to recent market prices?
The shares were sold at $55.00 per share, which exceeded the Oct. 27, 2025, market close.

What is the impact on the insider’s overall ownership and remaining equity exposure?
The transaction reduced the insiders overall ownership by less than 1%.

Company overview

* 1-year price change calculated using Oct. 27, 2025 as the reference date.

Company snapshot

Blackline, Inc. offers cloud-based financial close and accounting automation solutions for enterprise clients, streamlining finance operations through its platform.

Targets multinational corporations, large domestic enterprises, and mid-market companies across diverse industries seeking to modernize finance and compliance processes.

BlackLine delivers scalable software solutions that help organizations automate and control critical accounting workflows. The company's strategy focuses on driving adoption of its integrated platform among large, process-driven enterprises, leveraging the shift to cloud-based financial operations. BlackLine's competitive edge lies in its deep specialization in financial close management and its ability to address complex, multi-entity accounting environments.

Foolish take

Insiders have heaps of reasons to sell shares of the company they work for, and most of them have nothing to do with their forward outlook. The latest sale from Unterman looks a lot more like he's supplementing his income than fleeing a business in trouble.

Blackline is scheduled to report third-quarter results after the market closes on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. Investors will be looking for signs that the company's new Studio360 platform and updated pricing strategy can boost growth. Second quarter sales rose 7% year over year to $172 million.

Blackline reports some narrow profit margins for a software business. According to GAAP, the company's second quarter operating margin improved to 4.4% from 1.4% in the previous year period.

Blackline doesn't pay a dividend, but it is returning cash to shareholders in the form of share repurchases. The company spent about $43 million repurchasing shares in the second quarter. The existing repurchase program had about $111 million in buyback capacity at the end of June.

Glossary

Open-market sale: The sale of securities on a public exchange, available to any buyer, at prevailing market prices.
SEC Form 4: A required filing that reports insider trades of a company's securities by officers, directors, or significant shareholders.
Direct equity ownership: Holding company shares in one's own name, not through trusts, funds, or indirect means.
Transaction value: The total dollar amount received or paid in a single securities trade.
Market close: The final price at which a security trades during a regular trading session.
Premium: A price paid above the current market value for a security.
Discount: A price paid below the current market value for a security.
Equity exposure: The degree to which an investor is affected by changes in the value of stocks held.
Trading cadence: The frequency and timing pattern of buying or selling securities.
Cloud-based: Delivered over the internet rather than installed locally, allowing access from multiple devices or locations.
Financial close: The process of finalizing accounting records at the end of a reporting period.
TTM: The 12-month period ending with the most recent quarterly report.

Cory Renauer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends BlackLine. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.