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

Key Points

• Unusual options activity: Traders bought 44,579 call options on BlackBerry — a 258% increase versus the average daily volume of 12,443 calls.
• Shares jumped about 12% to $3.95 on heavy volume (12.2M vs. avg. 7.54M); BlackBerry beat quarterly EPS ($0.06 vs. $0.05) and revenue rose 10.1%, though analysts forecast a fiscal-year EPS of -0.03.
• Analysts hold a consensus “Hold” rating with a $4.92 average target, while insiders have sold 73,171 shares in the last 90 days and institutional investors own roughly 54.48% of the stock.

BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 44,579 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 258% compared to the average daily volume of 12,443 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on BB. Wall Street Zen downgraded BlackBerry from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a "hold" rating and set a $4.60 target price on shares of BlackBerry in a report on Friday, December 19th. TD Securities raised BlackBerry to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of BlackBerry in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $4.50 target price on shares of BlackBerry in a report on Friday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $4.92.

BlackBerry Trading Up 12.0%

BlackBerry stock traded up $0.42 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $3.95. The stock had a trading volume of 12,212,451 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,544,379. The company has a quick ratio of 2.14, a current ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 131.54 and a beta of 1.70. BlackBerry has a one year low of $3.04 and a one year high of $5.32. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $3.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.98.

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 9th. The company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.01. BlackBerry had a return on equity of 8.05% and a net margin of 4.02%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.03 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that BlackBerry will post -0.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackBerry

In related news, CEO John Joseph Giamatteo sold 27,066 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.56, for a total value of $96,354.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 899,146 shares in the company, valued at $3,200,959.76. The trade was a 2.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jennifer Armstrong-Owen sold 29,908 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Saturday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.56, for a total value of $106,472.48. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 94,903 shares of the company's stock, valued at $337,854.68. This trade represents a 23.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 73,171 shares of company stock valued at $260,489 over the last 90 days. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackBerry

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BB. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of BlackBerry by 2.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,793,046 shares of the company's stock valued at $116,086,000 after buying an additional 517,715 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in BlackBerry by 18.1% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 18,592,150 shares of the company's stock worth $90,730,000 after buying an additional 2,844,036 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in BlackBerry during the third quarter worth about $1,192,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its position in BlackBerry by 5.6% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 105,852 shares of the company's stock worth $517,000 after buying an additional 5,614 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ boosted its holdings in shares of BlackBerry by 99.1% in the 3rd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 139,195 shares of the company's stock worth $679,000 after purchasing an additional 69,282 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.48% of the company's stock.

About BlackBerry

BlackBerry Limited, formerly known as Research In Motion (RIM), is a Canadian enterprise software and cybersecurity company based in Waterloo, Ontario. Since its founding in 1984, the firm has evolved from a pioneer in mobile devices into a specialist in secure communications, endpoint management, and embedded systems software. BlackBerry's core mission today centers on delivering security-first solutions that protect critical data and infrastructure across diverse industries.

At the heart of BlackBerry's offerings is the BlackBerry Spark® platform, which combines unified endpoint management (UEM), secure communications, and artificial intelligence–driven threat detection into a single framework.

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