BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB) saw a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 35,280,000 shares, a growth of 23.0% from the January 31st total of 28,690,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 21,910,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.6 days. Approximately 6.1% of the company’s shares are sold short.

BlackBerry Stock Up 5.3 %

Shares of BB stock traded up $0.24 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $4.66. 18,551,098 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,186,244. BlackBerry has a fifty-two week low of $2.01 and a fifty-two week high of $6.24. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $4.56 and its 200-day moving average is $3.23. 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 company has a market cap of $2.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.16 and a beta of 1.27.

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $143.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $144.84 million. BlackBerry had a negative return on equity of 2.02% and a negative net margin of 21.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.01 EPS. Analysts predict that BlackBerry will post -0.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at BlackBerry

In other news, CEO John Joseph Giamatteo sold 29,402 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.00, for a total transaction of $117,608.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 490,761 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,963,044. This trade represents a 5.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Mattias Eriksson sold 12,680 shares of BlackBerry stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.00, for a total value of $50,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 278,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,113,224. The trade was a 4.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 244,221 shares of company stock worth $925,655 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackBerry

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in BlackBerry by 63.9% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 9,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 3,811 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of BlackBerry by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 115,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $435,000 after acquiring an additional 4,226 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC increased its position in shares of BlackBerry by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 70,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 4,375 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in BlackBerry by 100.3% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 5,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in BlackBerry by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 254,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $967,000 after acquiring an additional 5,870 shares during the period. 54.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of BlackBerry from $3.00 to $3.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com upgraded BlackBerry from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on BlackBerry from $3.25 to $4.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on BlackBerry from $2.80 to $3.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded BlackBerry from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $3.25 to $4.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Six investment 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3.69.

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.