Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on BlackBerry (NYSE:BB)

Key Points

• Traders have shown significant interest in BlackBerry (NYSE:BB), with a marked increase of 35% in call options volume, totaling 21,311 options traded compared to the average of 15,831.
• BlackBerry's stock price has risen to $4.37, with a market capitalization of $2.58 billion, though the company's revenue has decreased by 15.5% year-over-year.
• Analysts have mixed views on BlackBerry, with some raising price targets and others downgrading ratings, leading to a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a target price of $4.60.

BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors bought 21,311 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 35% compared to the average daily volume of 15,831 call options.

Insider Activity at BlackBerry

In other news, CEO John Joseph Giamatteo sold 26,998 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.32, for a total value of $116,631.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 530,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,290,183.20. The trade was a 4.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Philip S. Kurtz sold 16,217 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.25, for a total transaction of $85,139.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 57,503 shares of the company's stock, valued at $301,890.75. The trade was a 22.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 58,417 shares of company stock valued at $267,524 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackBerry

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in BlackBerry by 216.2% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 7,156 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 4,893 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackBerry during the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,000. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackBerry during the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. LeConte Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackBerry during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $61,000. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BlackBerry by 31.5% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 14,600 shares of the company's stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 3,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.48% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of BlackBerry from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of BlackBerry from $4.25 to $4.60 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. CIBC reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of BlackBerry in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of BlackBerry from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $4.00 target price on shares of BlackBerry and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $4.60.

BlackBerry Trading Up 4.6%

NYSE:BB traded up $0.20 on Monday, reaching $4.41. 15,988,340 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,602,607. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -73.42 and a beta of 1.49. The company's 50 day moving average is $3.84 and its 200-day moving average is $3.87. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. BlackBerry has a 1-year low of $2.24 and a 1-year high of $6.24.

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 24th. 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 $121.26 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $112.18 million. BlackBerry had a negative net margin of 6.44% and a positive return on equity of 2.29%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.03) EPS. BlackBerry has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.000-0.010 EPS. FY 2026 guidance at 0.080-0.100 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that BlackBerry will post -0.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.