StockNews.com Upgrades BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) to Hold

StockNews.com upgraded shares of BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of BlackBerry from $2.70 to $2.80 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. CIBC lifted their target price on shares of BlackBerry from $3.50 to $3.60 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $3.00 price target on shares of BlackBerry in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $3.23.

BlackBerry Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:BB opened at $2.37 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.46 and a beta of 1.42. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $2.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $2.50. BlackBerry has a 52-week low of $2.01 and a 52-week high of $4.44.

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.02. BlackBerry had a negative return on equity of 3.38% and a negative net margin of 21.66%. The business had revenue of $145.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $138.82 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.06) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BlackBerry will post -0.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at BlackBerry

In other news, insider Philip S. Kurtz sold 15,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Saturday, September 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.53, for a total transaction of $37,962.65. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,226.37. This trade represents a 33.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BlackBerry during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in BlackBerry by 83.3% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 11,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 5,349 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP purchased a new position in BlackBerry in the third quarter worth about $38,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of BlackBerry during the 2nd quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Viewpoint Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackBerry during the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,000. 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.