CIBC Upgrades BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) to Neutral

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB – Get Rating) was upgraded by equities research analysts at CIBC from a “sector underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, The Fly reports. The brokerage currently has a $6.50 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $4.20. CIBC’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 20.82% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of BlackBerry from $5.00 to $5.50 in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of BlackBerry from $4.50 to $4.25 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 22nd. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of BlackBerry in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “sell” rating on the stock. Finally, TD Securities upgraded shares of BlackBerry from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $3.75 to $4.00 in a report on Friday, March 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $5.50.

BlackBerry Price Performance

BB opened at $5.38 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.90 and a beta of 1.59. BlackBerry has a 1-year low of $3.17 and a 1-year high of $7.20. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $4.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.15.

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 31st. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.05. BlackBerry had a negative return on equity of 10.91% and a negative net margin of 111.89%. The company had revenue of $151.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $150.97 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.01 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that BlackBerry will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackBerry

In other news, insider Marjorie Dickman sold 28,237 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.63, for a total value of $130,737.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 35,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,772.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackBerry

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of BlackBerry by 196.6% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 618,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,821,000 after purchasing an additional 409,887 shares during the period. EWA LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackBerry in the 1st quarter valued at about $59,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of BlackBerry by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 430,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,965,000 after purchasing an additional 12,150 shares during the period. Sassicaia Capital Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackBerry in the 1st quarter valued at about $189,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackBerry by 5,243.7% in the 1st quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 593,842 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,708,000 after purchasing an additional 582,729 shares during the period. 42.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About BlackBerry

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BlackBerry Ltd. engages in providing intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments. The firm leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to deliver solutions in the areas of cyber security, safety, and data privacy solutions, and also focuses on the areas of endpoint security, endpoint management, encryption, and embedded systems.