BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) Shares Gap Up - Should You Buy?

BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $4.41, but opened at $4.52. BlackBerry shares last traded at $4.51, with a volume of 1,168,745 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Securities raised BlackBerry from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $3.25 to $4.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on BlackBerry from $3.25 to $4.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of BlackBerry from $3.00 to $4.75 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on BlackBerry from $3.00 to $3.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of BlackBerry from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $3.25 to $4.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $3.91.

BlackBerry Stock Up 2.5 %

The company's fifty day simple moving average is $4.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.56 billion, a PE ratio of -19.52 and a beta of 1.27.

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BlackBerry (NYSE:BB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $143.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.84 million. BlackBerry had a negative return on equity of 2.02% and a negative net margin of 21.16%. The firm's revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.01 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that BlackBerry Limited will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at BlackBerry

In other news, CAO Jay P. Chai sold 24,425 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.19, for a total value of $102,340.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO John Joseph Giamatteo sold 155,815 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.68, for a total value of $573,399.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 385,552 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,418,831.36. This trade represents a 28.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 244,221 shares of company stock valued at $925,655 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackBerry

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in BlackBerry by 63.9% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 9,773 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 3,811 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of BlackBerry by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 115,116 shares of the company's stock worth $435,000 after buying an additional 4,226 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackBerry by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 70,829 shares of the company's stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 4,375 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of BlackBerry by 100.3% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 10,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 5,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in BlackBerry by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 254,032 shares of the company's stock worth $967,000 after acquiring an additional 5,870 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.48% of the company's stock.

About BlackBerry

BlackBerry Limited provides intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Cybersecurity, IoT, and Licensing and Other. The company offers CylanceENDPOINT, an integrated endpoint security solution; CylanceGUARD, a managed detection and response solution; CylanceEDGE, an AI-powered continuous authentication zero trust network access solution; CylanceINTELLIGENCE, a contextual cyber threat intelligence service; BlackBerry Dynamics offers a development platform and secure container for mobile applications; BlackBerry Workspaces a secure Enterprise File Sync and Share (EFSS) solution; BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) Enterprise, an enterprise-grade secure instant messaging solution for messaging, voice and video; BlackBerry SecuSUITE is a certified, multi-OS voice and text messaging solution; BlackBerry AtHoc, a secure networked critical event management solution; and BlackBerry unified endpoint management (UEM) solutions.