BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $2.69, but opened at $2.80. BlackBerry shares last traded at $3.08, with a volume of 6,543,661 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on BB. StockNews.com raised BlackBerry from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on BlackBerry from $3.00 to $3.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. CIBC increased their price objective on shares of BlackBerry from $3.50 to $3.60 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of BlackBerry from $2.70 to $2.80 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BlackBerry presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $3.26.

BlackBerry Stock Up 3.6 %

The company has a market capitalization of $1.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.80 and a beta of 1.43. 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 fifty day moving average is $2.49 and its 200-day moving average is $2.44.

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, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $145.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $138.82 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.06) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BlackBerry Limited will post -0.06 EPS for the current 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 directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackBerry

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in BlackBerry by 5,408.9% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,431,588 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,510,000 after acquiring an additional 3,369,296 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its position in shares of BlackBerry by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 11,922,795 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,238,000 after acquiring an additional 1,637,916 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BlackBerry by 508.1% in the 2nd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,144,990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,862,000 after purchasing an additional 956,690 shares during the period. Potrero Capital Research LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackBerry during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,359,000. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its stake in BlackBerry by 815.6% during the second quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 548,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,361,000 after purchasing an additional 488,934 shares during the period. 54.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.