BlackBerry Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:BB)

BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Investors purchased 56,163 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 48% compared to the typical volume of 38,012 call options.

BlackBerry Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BB traded down $0.54 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $4.82. 54,744,298 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 25,657,791. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $4.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.13. BlackBerry has a 1-year low of $2.01 and a 1-year high of $6.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.90 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $143.00 million during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.01 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BlackBerry will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on BB. TD Cowen upgraded shares of 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. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of BlackBerry from $2.80 to $3.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on BlackBerry from $3.25 to $4.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on BlackBerry from $3.00 to $3.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised BlackBerry from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BlackBerry presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Mattias Eriksson sold 12,680 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.00, for a total transaction of $50,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 278,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,113,224. This trade represents a 4.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO John Joseph Giamatteo sold 155,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.68, for a total value of $573,399.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 385,552 shares in the company, valued at $1,418,831.36. This trade represents a 28.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 244,221 shares of company stock valued at $925,655. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackBerry

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of BlackBerry by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 33,185,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,987,000 after buying an additional 5,518,216 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in BlackBerry by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,865,831 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,844,000 after buying an additional 364,569 shares in the last quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC bought a new position in BlackBerry in the 4th quarter valued at $53,267,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of BlackBerry by 41.9% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 13,669,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,856,000 after acquiring an additional 4,039,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of BlackBerry by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 12,755,972 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,218,000 after acquiring an additional 1,558,904 shares during the period. 54.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BlackBerry Company Profile

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.