BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) Sets New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB) shares hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $5.49 and last traded at $5.53, with a volume of 3413310 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $5.25.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BB shares. StockNews.com raised BlackBerry from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of BlackBerry from $3.25 to $4.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of BlackBerry from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $3.25 to $4.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. CIBC raised 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. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of BlackBerry from $2.80 to $3.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3.69.

BlackBerry Stock Up 5.4 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.27 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.11 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $3.77 and its 200-day moving average is $2.87.

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.03. BlackBerry had a negative net margin of 21.16% and a negative return on equity of 2.02%. The firm had revenue of $143.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.84 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.01 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BlackBerry Limited will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BlackBerry

In related news, CAO Jay P. Chai sold 24,425 shares of BlackBerry stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.19, for a total transaction of $102,340.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Mattias Eriksson sold 12,680 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.00, for a total value of $50,720.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 278,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,113,224. This trade represents a 4.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 244,221 shares of company stock worth $925,655. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackBerry

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackBerry by 60.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 249,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $652,000 after purchasing an additional 93,651 shares during the last quarter. Milestone Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackBerry in the 4th quarter valued at $557,000. Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in BlackBerry by 25.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackBerry during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,285,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of BlackBerry by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,309,606 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,431,000 after acquiring an additional 24,309 shares in the last quarter. 54.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.