BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Buy Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BlackBerry (NYSE:BB - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Friday.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on BlackBerry from $4.75 to $4.25 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. CIBC lowered their target price on BlackBerry from $7.00 to $6.00 and set an "outperformer" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $3.75 target price on BlackBerry in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $4.12.

BlackBerry Stock Performance

BB traded up $0.07 on Friday, reaching $4.14. 12,311,902 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,079,139. The company's 50-day moving average price is $3.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $3.88. BlackBerry has a fifty-two week low of $2.01 and a fifty-two week high of $6.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.47 billion, a PE ratio of -18.82 and a beta of 1.45.

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 2nd. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. BlackBerry had a negative return on equity of 2.02% and a negative net margin of 21.16%. The business had revenue of $141.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $137.56 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.03 EPS. The company's revenue was down 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BlackBerry will post -0.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at BlackBerry

In related news, SVP Jennifer Armstrong-Owen sold 29,940 shares of BlackBerry stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.99, for a total transaction of $89,520.60. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 42,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $126,770.02. The trade was a 41.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 37,216 shares of company stock worth $112,025. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackBerry

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 4,893 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in BlackBerry in the 1st quarter worth $37,000. Mindset Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in BlackBerry in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in BlackBerry by 100.3% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 10,000 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 5,008 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.48% of the company's stock.

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.