Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on BlackBerry (NYSE:BB)

BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors purchased 32,362 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 31% compared to the average volume of 24,701 call options.

BlackBerry Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BB traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $2.52. 26,876,613 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,049,819. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $2.35 and a 200 day moving average of $2.60. BlackBerry has a 1 year low of $2.01 and a 1 year high of $4.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.97 and a beta of 1.39.

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $145.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.82 million. BlackBerry had a negative return on equity of 6.43% and a negative net margin of 25.80%. BlackBerry’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.06) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that BlackBerry will post -0.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TD Securities lowered their price objective on shares of BlackBerry from $3.00 to $2.75 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. CIBC upgraded BlackBerry from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $3.50 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on BlackBerry from $3.25 to $2.70 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $3.00 price target on shares of BlackBerry in a research note on Friday. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of BlackBerry from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $3.20.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackBerry

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackBerry during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in BlackBerry by 83.3% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 11,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 5,349 shares during the last quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of BlackBerry in the 2nd quarter worth $43,000. Viewpoint Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackBerry in the 2nd quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BlackBerry during the 2nd quarter valued at about $169,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.