Traders Buy Large Volume of BlackBerry Call Options (NYSE:BB)

Key Points

• BlackBerry Limited experienced a surge in call options trading, with 81,473 call options purchased, representing a 248% increase over the average daily volume.
• The company reported earnings of $0.04 per share, surpassing the estimated $0.01, along with a revenue decline of 10.6% year-over-year.
• Insiders, including CEO John Joseph Giamatteo, have sold a significant number of shares recently, indicating a 31.64% decrease in insider ownership for Philip S. Kurtz.

BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 81,473 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 248% compared to the average daily volume of 23,408 call options.

BlackBerry Stock Performance

BB stock traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $4.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,938,264 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,909,511. BlackBerry has a 1 year low of $2.24 and a 1 year high of $6.24. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $4.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $3.95. The stock has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -475.70 and a beta of 1.51.

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 25th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $130.96 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $122.03 million. BlackBerry had a positive return on equity of 6.07% and a negative net margin of 0.60%.The business's revenue was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. BlackBerry has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.020-0.040 EPS. FY 2026 guidance at 0.110-0.15 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that BlackBerry will post -0.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Philip S. Kurtz sold 44,178 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Sunday, September 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.95, for a total value of $218,681.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 95,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $472,566.60. This represents a 31.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO John Joseph Giamatteo sold 28,343 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.62, for a total value of $130,944.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 568,164 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,624,917.68. The trade was a 4.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 88,565 shares of company stock valued at $423,706. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Voya Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in BlackBerry during the 1st quarter worth about $95,166,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of BlackBerry by 1,390.6% during the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 15,589,886 shares of the company's stock valued at $71,397,000 after purchasing an additional 14,544,005 shares during the last quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of BlackBerry during the 2nd quarter valued at about $52,441,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of BlackBerry by 69.1% during the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 23,112,391 shares of the company's stock valued at $87,064,000 after purchasing an additional 9,442,676 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in BlackBerry by 21,832.6% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 8,860,764 shares of the company's stock worth $40,582,000 after purchasing an additional 8,820,364 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 54.48% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research upgraded BlackBerry from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a "hold" rating and set a $4.60 price objective on shares of BlackBerry in a report on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of BlackBerry in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on BlackBerry from $4.00 to $4.50 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded BlackBerry from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $5.10.

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.

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