BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB) CEO John Joseph Giamatteo Sells 155,815 Shares

BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB) CEO John Joseph Giamatteo sold 155,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.68, for a total transaction of $573,399.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 385,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,418,831.36. This represents a 28.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

BlackBerry Stock Up 11.1 %

Shares of BB traded up $0.41 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $4.09. The company had a trading volume of 26,316,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,687,771. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. BlackBerry Limited has a 52 week low of $2.01 and a 52 week high of $4.11. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $2.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.54. The stock has a market cap of $2.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.36 and a beta of 1.30.

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $143.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.84 million. BlackBerry had a negative return on equity of 3.38% and a negative net margin of 21.66%. BlackBerry’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.01 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that BlackBerry Limited will post -0.06 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BB has been the subject of several analyst reports. CIBC upped their target price on BlackBerry from $3.50 to $3.60 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. TD Securities upgraded BlackBerry from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $3.25 to $4.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of BlackBerry from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $3.25 to $4.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of BlackBerry from $2.80 to $3.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of BlackBerry from $3.00 to $3.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Six investment 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 MarketBeat.com, BlackBerry currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3.60.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackBerry

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of BlackBerry by 25.7% in the 3rd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,439,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,789,000 after buying an additional 294,250 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BlackBerry during the third quarter worth about $1,285,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in BlackBerry by 1.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,309,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,431,000 after acquiring an additional 24,309 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in BlackBerry by 7.6% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 163,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $428,000 after acquiring an additional 11,488 shares during the period. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of BlackBerry by 815.6% during the second quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 548,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,361,000 after purchasing an additional 488,934 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.48% of the company’s stock.

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.