BlackBerry Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:BB)

BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 40,452 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 132% compared to the typical daily volume of 17,449 call options.

Insider Activity at BlackBerry

In other BlackBerry news, insider Philip S. Kurtz sold 16,217 shares of BlackBerry stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.25, for a total value of $85,139.25. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 57,503 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $301,890.75. The trade was a 22.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO John Joseph Giamatteo sold 26,998 shares of BlackBerry stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.32, for a total transaction of $116,631.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 530,135 shares in the company, valued at $2,290,183.20. This represents a 4.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 58,417 shares of company stock worth $267,524. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackBerry

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BB. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in BlackBerry during the 4th quarter worth approximately $544,000. HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BlackBerry during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in BlackBerry by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,109,350 shares of the company's stock worth $4,212,000 after buying an additional 6,700 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in BlackBerry during the 4th quarter worth approximately $309,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in BlackBerry by 261.7% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 425,129 shares of the company's stock worth $1,607,000 after buying an additional 307,582 shares in the last quarter. 54.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on BB shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BlackBerry from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of BlackBerry from $3.75 to $4.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of BlackBerry from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of BlackBerry from $4.25 to $4.60 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, CIBC reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of BlackBerry in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $4.60.

BlackBerry Price Performance

Shares of BB stock traded down $0.06 on Friday, reaching $3.91. 5,169,656 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,423,740. BlackBerry has a 1 year low of $2.01 and a 1 year high of $6.24. The company has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -65.08 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $4.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.14.

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 24th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.03. BlackBerry had a negative net margin of 6.44% and a positive return on equity of 2.29%. The company had revenue of $121.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $112.18 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.03) EPS. BlackBerry's revenue was down 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that BlackBerry will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.