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

BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 78,445 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 143% compared to the typical volume of 32,257 call options.

BlackBerry Stock Up 9.6 %

Shares of BB stock traded up $0.45 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $5.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 28,185,864 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,668,205. 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 has a 1-year low of $2.01 and a 1-year high of $5.09. The company has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.02 and a beta of 1.31. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $3.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.81.

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $143.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.84 million. BlackBerry had a negative net margin of 21.16% and a negative return on equity of 2.02%. The company’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.01 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that BlackBerry will post -0.03 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO John Joseph Giamatteo sold 155,815 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 385,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,418,831.36. This trade represents a 28.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Mattias Eriksson sold 14,475 shares of the business’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 $53,268.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 238,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $878,923.84. This represents a 5.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 244,221 shares of company stock worth $925,655 in the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackBerry

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in BlackBerry by 83.3% during the 2nd 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 period. Quantinno Capital Management LP purchased a new position in BlackBerry in the third quarter worth $38,000. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackBerry in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackBerry during the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Palacios Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackBerry during the 4th quarter worth $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BB shares. StockNews.com raised shares of BlackBerry from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. TD Securities upgraded BlackBerry from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $3.25 to $4.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. CIBC upped their price objective on BlackBerry from $3.50 to $3.60 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of BlackBerry from $3.25 to $4.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of BlackBerry from $3.00 to $3.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $3.69.

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.