BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) Shares Up 8.8% - Here's What Happened

BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB - Get Free Report) shares traded up 8.8% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $5.72 and last traded at $5.74. 14,983,071 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 31% from the average session volume of 21,768,123 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.27.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of BlackBerry from $2.80 to $3.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen raised shares of BlackBerry from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $3.25 to $4.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. TD Securities raised shares of BlackBerry from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $3.25 to $4.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of BlackBerry from $3.25 to $4.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of BlackBerry from $3.00 to $3.50 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $3.69.

BlackBerry Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $4.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a PE ratio of -25.80 and a beta of 1.31.

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.03. BlackBerry had a negative net margin of 21.16% and a negative return on equity of 2.02%. The firm had revenue of $143.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $144.84 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.01 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that BlackBerry Limited will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO John Joseph Giamatteo sold 155,815 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were 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 represents a 28.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Jay P. Chai sold 24,425 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.19, for a total transaction of $102,340.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 244,221 shares of company stock worth $925,655 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackBerry

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in BlackBerry by 63.9% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 9,773 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 3,811 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP bought a new position in BlackBerry during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in BlackBerry during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Mindset Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in BlackBerry during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in BlackBerry by 100.3% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 10,000 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 5,008 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.48% of the company's stock.

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.