BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.06 EPS

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.06, RTT News reports. BlackBerry had a negative net margin of 68.47% and a negative return on equity of 4.27%. The company had revenue of $173.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $150.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.04) earnings per share. BlackBerry’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

BlackBerry Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:BB traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $2.81. The stock had a trading volume of 10,550,255 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,562,382. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3.44. The company has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a PE ratio of -2.83 and a beta of 1.41. BlackBerry has a twelve month low of $2.46 and a twelve month high of $5.75.

Insider Activity at BlackBerry

In related news, CFO Steve Rai sold 20,047 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.25, for a total value of $65,152.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 84,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $274,946.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other BlackBerry news, CFO Steve Rai sold 20,047 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.25, for a total value of $65,152.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 84,599 shares in the company, valued at $274,946.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO John Joseph Giamatteo sold 18,279 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.23, for a total transaction of $59,041.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 206,090 shares in the company, valued at $665,670.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 44,090 shares of company stock valued at $142,812 over the last 90 days. 1.94% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackBerry

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of BlackBerry during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,430,000. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of BlackBerry by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 23,417,371 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,468,000 after acquiring an additional 4,101,823 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of BlackBerry by 138.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,545,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,987,000 after acquiring an additional 1,475,870 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of BlackBerry by 171.9% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,266,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,335,000 after acquiring an additional 1,432,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its position in shares of BlackBerry by 98.7% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 2,595,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,837,000 after acquiring an additional 1,289,346 shares during the last quarter. 54.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. CIBC decreased their target price on shares of BlackBerry from $4.25 to $3.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of BlackBerry from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. TD Securities reduced their price target on shares of BlackBerry from $4.00 to $3.75 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of BlackBerry from $4.00 to $3.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of BlackBerry from $7.00 to $6.50 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $4.08.

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 CylancePROTECT, an endpoint protection platform and mobile threat defense solution; CylanceOPTICS, an endpoint detection and response solution; CylanceGUARD, a managed detection and response solution; CylanceGATEWAY, an AI-empowered zero-trust network access solution; CylancePERSONA, a user and entity behavior analytics solution; BlackBerry unified endpoint management, a central software component for secure communications platform; BlackBerry Dynamics, a development platform and secure container for mobile applications; and BlackBerry Workspaces solutions.