BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on BB. 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 report on Friday, October 18th. CIBC upped their price target on shares of BlackBerry from $3.50 to $3.60 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $3.00 price target on shares of BlackBerry in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $3.23.

BlackBerry Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BB traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $2.55. 8,678,588 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,108,424. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $2.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.45. The company has a market cap of $1.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.18 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. BlackBerry has a 12-month low of $2.01 and a 12-month high of $4.44.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackBerry

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BB. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in BlackBerry during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted 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 worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 5,349 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP bought a new stake in BlackBerry in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management purchased a new stake in BlackBerry during the 2nd quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Viewpoint Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackBerry during the 2nd quarter valued at $50,000. 54.48% of the stock is currently 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.