Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on BlackBerry (NYSE:BB)

BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 39,126 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 39% compared to the typical volume of 28,118 call options.

BlackBerry Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of BlackBerry stock opened at $4.07 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.28 and a beta of 1.30. BlackBerry has a 1 year low of $2.01 and a 1 year high of $4.35. The company’s fifty day moving average is $2.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.57.

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.03. BlackBerry had a negative return on equity of 3.38% and a negative net margin of 21.66%. The firm had revenue of $143.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $144.84 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.01 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that BlackBerry will post -0.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO John Joseph Giamatteo sold 155,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.68, for a total transaction of $573,399.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 385,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,418,831.36. This represents a 28.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Mattias Eriksson sold 14,475 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 $53,268.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 238,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $878,923.84. The trade was a 5.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 174,913 shares of company stock worth $643,741. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackBerry

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackBerry by 25.7% during the 3rd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,439,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,789,000 after purchasing an additional 294,250 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BlackBerry during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,285,000. State Street Corp increased its position in BlackBerry by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,309,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,431,000 after buying an additional 24,309 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of BlackBerry by 7.6% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 163,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $428,000 after acquiring an additional 11,488 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of BlackBerry by 815.6% in the second quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 548,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,361,000 after acquiring an additional 488,934 shares in the last quarter. 54.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of BlackBerry from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $3.25 to $4.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com raised BlackBerry from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on BlackBerry from $3.00 to $3.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. CIBC upped their target price on BlackBerry from $3.50 to $3.60 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on BlackBerry from $3.00 to $3.50 and gave the stock 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3.60.

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.