Blackbaud, Inc. (BLKB) Stock Price & How to Invest

Blackbaud has spent more than four decades building software for what it calls the social impact sector. Its products run the back office of the organizations that use them: Raiser's Edge NXT for fundraising and donor management, Financial Edge NXT for nonprofit fund accounting, Blackbaud Tuition Management and school administration systems for K-12 and higher education, JustGiving for consumer-facing online giving, and YourCause for corporate grantmaking and employee giving. Sitting alongside the subscriptions is Blackbaud Integrated Payments, which takes a cut of donation and tuition volume flowing through the platform. Roughly ~98% of second-quarter 2026 revenue was recurring, split between ~$186 million of contractual subscription revenue and ~$99 million of transactional revenue tied to payment volume. About ~18% of first-half revenue came from outside the United States, mainly the United Kingdom, and the company employs around 2,800 people from its Charleston, South Carolina headquarters.

The investment picture is a mature software franchise being run for cash rather than for growth. Second-quarter 2026 revenue rose ~3.0% to ~$290.6 million, with non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA of ~$110.3 million on a ~38.0% margin and non-GAAP diluted EPS of ~$1.33. Management reaffirmed full-year 2026 guidance of ~$1.173 billion to ~$1.179 billion in revenue, ~$5.15 to ~$5.25 in non-GAAP EPS and ~$280 million to ~$290 million in free cash flow, and said results should land in the upper half of those ranges. Capital return is the loudest part of the story: share count has fallen roughly ~15% since late 2023, about ~$850 million remained under the repurchase authorization at June 30, 2026, and the company has committed to spending at least half its free cash flow on buybacks through 2030. Shares jumped sharply after the July 29, 2026 results, which compressed the gap between the cash flow yield and the price.

Growth is the central problem: organic revenue rose only ~3.0% in the second quarter of 2026, and 2025 gross dollar retention was approximately ~92%, meaning the base loses value each year before price increases and cross-sell are added back. Leverage is meaningful for a company this size, with ~$1.15 billion of total debt at a ~5.60% weighted average effective rate as of June 30, 2026 against only ~$38.9 million of cash at the end of 2025, and interest expense of roughly ~$62 million to ~$66 million is guided for 2026. The 2020 ransomware incident produced a ~$3 million SEC settlement in March 2023, a ~$49.5 million settlement with 49 states and the District of Columbia in October 2023, and Federal Trade Commission and California Attorney General resolutions that obligate Blackbaud to run and improve specified cybersecurity programs through May 2044, an ongoing cost and an ongoing compliance exposure. Competition is fragmented and persistent, with Salesforce, Bonterra, Bloomerang, PowerSchool, Benevity and dozens of point tools attacking individual modules. Finally, the stock rose sharply after the July 2026 results, so the discounted cash flow yield that framed the buyback thesis is narrower now than it was in June.

5 analysts publish price targets on BLKB, averaging $53.40 against a $45.87 price as of August 2026, or +16.4%. The published targets run from $45.00 to $65.00, a moderate spread, and the ratings split 3 buy, 2 hold, 0 sell. Over the last six months there has been 1 raise and 4 cuts among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full BLKB forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on Blackbaud, Inc.. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. Contract repricing on a three-year renewal cycle. Most Blackbaud software customers now sit on standard three-year contracts carrying mid-to-high single-digit price increases at renewal plus embedded annual escalators. The most optimistic published target, $65.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. Growth is the central problem: organic revenue rose only ~3.0% in the second quarter of 2026, and 2025 gross dollar retention was approximately ~92%, meaning the base loses value each year before price increases and cross-sell are added back. The most pessimistic target, $45.00, is roughly what BLKB is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on BLKB, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Blackbaud, Inc.'s investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (TTM): ~$1.15 billion, with 2026 guidance of ~$1.173 billion to ~$1.179 billion
• Recurring revenue mix: ~98.2% of Q2 2026 revenue, split ~$186.4 million contractual and ~$98.9 million transactional
• Free cash flow: ~$329 million trailing; 2026 guidance of ~$280 million to ~$290 million
• Gross dollar retention (2025): ~92%; Blackbaud reports gross dollar retention and does not disclose a net revenue retention figure
• Non-GAAP diluted EPS (2026 guidance): ~$5.15 to ~$5.25, versus GAAP diluted EPS of ~$0.79 in Q2 2026
• Total debt: ~$1.15 billion at a ~5.60% weighted average effective rate as of June 30, 2026

At roughly ~$46 per share and about ~45 million diluted shares, the market cap sits near ~$2.1 billion, or close to ~9 times the midpoint of 2026 non-GAAP EPS guidance. Adding net debt of roughly ~$1.1 billion puts enterprise value near ~$3.2 billion, around ~7.4 times the midpoint of guided adjusted EBITDA of ~$430 million to ~$438 million. Trailing GAAP earnings look cheaper than they read at first glance because 2024 carried a large impairment, so the year-over-year GAAP comparisons flatter the recovery.

Other names that sit close to BLKB: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get BLKB exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so BLKB sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where BLKB fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

Blackbaud is a slow-growing but highly recurring vertical software business whose story now rests on payments volume, price increases at renewal and an aggressive buyback rather than on unit growth.

Whether BLKB is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is BLKB a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the BLKB stock forecast.

For income investors, whether BLKB pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does BLKB pay a dividend? And to weigh BLKB against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: BLKB vs CRM and BLKB vs NNI.