BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 29,210,000 shares, a decrease of 7.2% from the August 15th total of 31,470,000 shares. Currently, 5.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 7,410,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Mattias Eriksson sold 52,549 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.45, for a total transaction of $128,745.05. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 214,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $525,378. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BlackBerry

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackBerry in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of BlackBerry during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Viewpoint Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackBerry in the second quarter valued at $50,000. Finally, Oxford Asset Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of BlackBerry in the fourth quarter valued at $60,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.48% of the company’s stock.

BlackBerry Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BB opened at $2.38 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.21 and a beta of 1.39. BlackBerry has a 1-year low of $2.01 and a 1-year high of $5.25. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $2.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $2.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.43.

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.01. BlackBerry had a negative return on equity of 6.43% and a negative net margin of 25.80%. The company had revenue of $144.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $132.05 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.04 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 61.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that BlackBerry will post -0.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BB. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on shares of BlackBerry from $3.25 to $2.70 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of BlackBerry from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on shares of BlackBerry from $3.25 to $2.70 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $3.00 target price on shares of BlackBerry in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, TD Securities dropped their price target on shares of BlackBerry from $3.00 to $2.75 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $3.20.

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.