BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) Trading Up 8.8% - Here's Why

BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB - Get Free Report) was up 8.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $5.72 and last traded at $5.74. Approximately 14,983,071 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 31% from the average daily volume of 21,768,123 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.27.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded BlackBerry from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of BlackBerry from $2.80 to $3.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on BlackBerry from $3.25 to $4.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. TD Cowen upgraded BlackBerry from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $3.25 to $4.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of BlackBerry from $3.00 to $3.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $3.69.

BlackBerry Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $4.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $3.01. The firm has a market cap of $3.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.61 and a beta of 1.31.

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts' expectations 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.01 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BlackBerry Limited will post -0.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at BlackBerry

In other BlackBerry news, insider Mattias Eriksson sold 12,680 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.00, for a total value of $50,720.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 278,306 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,113,224. This represents a 4.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Jay P. Chai sold 24,425 shares of the 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 244,221 shares of company stock valued at $925,655 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackBerry

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BB. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in BlackBerry by 63.9% during the fourth 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. Quantinno Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in BlackBerry during the third quarter worth $38,000. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in BlackBerry in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Mindset Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackBerry in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in BlackBerry by 100.3% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 10,000 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 5,008 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.