Blend Labs Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:BLND)

Blend Labs, Inc. (NYSE:BLND) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders purchased 33,867 call options on the company. Thisisanincreaseof4,356% compared to the average daily volume of 760 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Blend Labs from $5.60 to $4.80 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 12th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Blend Labs from $4.00 to $3.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Blend Labs from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, August 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $5.25 price objective on shares of Blend Labs in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Blend Labs from $4.00 to $3.75 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $4.88.

Blend Labs Stock Up 10.5%

BLND opened at $4.04 on Friday. Blend Labs has a 52 week low of $2.63 and a 52 week high of $5.53. The stock has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a PE ratio of -26.90 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50 day moving average of $3.42 and a 200-day moving average of $3.41.

Blend Labs (NYSE:BLND) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $31.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.93 million. Blend Labs has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Blend Labs will post -0.19 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blend Labs news, insider Brian Kneafsey sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.87, for a total transaction of $71,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 696,598 shares in the company, valued at $1,999,236.26. This trade represents a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Nima Ghamsari sold 311,886 shares of Blend Labs stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.90, for a total transaction of $904,469.40. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,754,051 shares in the company, valued at $16,686,747.90. This trade represents a 5.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 561,736 shares of company stock valued at $1,739,383 over the last ninety days. 35.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Blend Labs

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BLND. Lightspeed Management Company L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Blend Labs in the fourth quarter worth $97,366,000. Whitebark Investors LP purchased a new position in Blend Labs in the fourth quarter worth about $10,895,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Blend Labs by 157.6% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,522,141 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,323,000 after purchasing an additional 1,543,220 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of Blend Labs by 748.2% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,203,511 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,067,000 after purchasing an additional 1,061,621 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP increased its position in shares of Blend Labs by 62.2% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,203,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,277,000 after purchasing an additional 844,962 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.56% of the company’s stock.

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.