BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Sell

StockNews.com lowered shares of BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning.

BB has been the topic of a number of other reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of BlackBerry from $2.70 to $2.80 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $3.00 target price on shares of BlackBerry in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, CIBC upped their price target on BlackBerry from $3.50 to $3.60 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $3.23.

BlackBerry Price Performance

NYSE BB opened at $2.32 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.37 billion, a PE ratio of -9.26 and a beta of 1.42. BlackBerry has a 52-week low of $2.01 and a 52-week high of $4.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 1.44. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $2.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $2.49.

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 26th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $145.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $138.82 million. BlackBerry had a negative return on equity of 3.38% and a negative net margin of 21.66%. The business’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.06) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that BlackBerry will post -0.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Philip S. Kurtz sold 15,005 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, September 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.53, for a total value of $37,962.65. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,129 shares in the company, valued at $76,226.37. This represents a 33.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackBerry

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackBerry in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in BlackBerry by 83.3% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 11,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 5,349 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in BlackBerry during the third quarter worth $38,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management purchased a new position in BlackBerry in the second quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Viewpoint Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackBerry in the second quarter worth about $50,000. 54.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.