BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) Trading 13.1% Higher After Earnings Beat

Shares of BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB) rose 13.1% on Friday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as high as $3.41 and last traded at $3.37. Approximately 3,255,342 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 66% from the average daily volume of 9,528,748 shares. The stock had previously closed at $2.98.

The company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $143.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.84 million. BlackBerry had a negative net margin of 21.66% and a negative return on equity of 3.38%. BlackBerry’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.01 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on BB shares. StockNews.com raised shares of BlackBerry from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. TD Securities upgraded BlackBerry from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $3.25 to $4.00 in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on BlackBerry from $3.00 to $3.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. TD Cowen upgraded BlackBerry from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $3.25 to $4.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of BlackBerry from $2.80 to $3.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Philip S. Kurtz sold 15,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $76,226.37. The trade was a 33.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of BlackBerry

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of BlackBerry by 25.7% in the 3rd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,439,240 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,789,000 after purchasing an additional 294,250 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackBerry during the third quarter worth $1,285,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in BlackBerry by 7.6% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 163,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $428,000 after buying an additional 11,488 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 488,934 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC lifted its holdings in BlackBerry by 911.4% during the 2nd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 371,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $920,000 after buying an additional 334,466 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.48% of the company’s stock.

BlackBerry Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a PE ratio of -14.76 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. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $2.46.

BlackBerry Company Profile

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.