Royal Bank of Canada Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) Stock

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) had its price objective upped by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $3.00 to $3.25 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector perform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target points to a potential upside of 7.97% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on BB. StockNews.com raised shares of BlackBerry from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. CIBC lifted their price objective on shares of BlackBerry from $3.50 to $3.60 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of BlackBerry from $2.70 to $2.80 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BlackBerry presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $3.34.

BlackBerry Trading Down 5.9 %

BB stock opened at $3.01 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.44. BlackBerry has a 1-year low of $2.01 and a 1-year high of $4.31. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.44. The company has a market capitalization of $1.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.04 and a beta of 1.43.

BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 26th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.02. BlackBerry had a negative return on equity of 3.38% and a negative net margin of 21.66%. The firm had revenue of $145.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.82 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.06) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that BlackBerry will post -0.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at BlackBerry

In related news, insider Philip S. Kurtz sold 15,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Saturday, September 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.53, for a total transaction of $37,962.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $76,226.37. This trade represents a 33.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BlackBerry

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BB. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of BlackBerry during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in BlackBerry by 83.3% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of BlackBerry in the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of BlackBerry during the 2nd quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Viewpoint Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BlackBerry during the second quarter valued at $50,000. 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.