BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) Given New $4.00 Price Target at Royal Bank of Canada

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) had its price objective lifted by Royal Bank of Canada from $3.25 to $4.00 in a report published on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of BlackBerry from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $3.25 to $4.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on BlackBerry from $2.80 to $3.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. CIBC boosted their price target on shares of BlackBerry from $3.50 to $3.60 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of BlackBerry from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of BlackBerry from $3.00 to $3.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3.69.

BlackBerry Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BB opened at $4.05 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $2.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.59. BlackBerry has a 52-week low of $2.01 and a 52-week high of $4.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.20 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, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.03. BlackBerry had a negative return on equity of 3.38% and a negative net margin of 21.66%. The firm had revenue of $143.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.84 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.01 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that BlackBerry will post -0.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackBerry

In related news, insider Mattias Eriksson sold 12,680 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.00, for a total transaction of $50,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 278,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,113,224. This trade represents a 4.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO John Joseph Giamatteo sold 155,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.68, for a total value of $573,399.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 385,552 shares in the company, valued at $1,418,831.36. This represents a 28.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 219,796 shares of company stock valued at $823,314. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackBerry

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in BlackBerry in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in BlackBerry by 83.3% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 11,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 5,349 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP purchased a new position in BlackBerry during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of BlackBerry by 65.5% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 22,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 9,063 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of BlackBerry by 40.8% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 36,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 10,585 shares in the last quarter. 54.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.