BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:BB) Short Interest Down 7.2% in August

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

BlackBerry Price Performance

Shares of BB stock opened at $2.38 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $2.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $2.61. BlackBerry has a fifty-two week low of $2.01 and a fifty-two week high of $5.25. The firm has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.21 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.43.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BB shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of BlackBerry from $3.50 to $3.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $3.00 target price on shares of BlackBerry in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of BlackBerry from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on BlackBerry from $5.50 to $4.75 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on BlackBerry from $3.25 to $2.70 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $3.20.

Insider Activity

In other BlackBerry news, insider Mattias Eriksson sold 52,549 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.45, for a total value of $128,745.05. Following the sale, the insider now owns 214,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $525,378. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BlackBerry

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted 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 valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 5,349 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in BlackBerry by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 25,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 5,645 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its holdings in BlackBerry by 1.8% in the first quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 351,339 shares of the company’s stock worth $989,000 after purchasing an additional 6,196 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of BlackBerry by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 73,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 8,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in BlackBerry by 7.5% during the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 130,665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $327,000 after buying an additional 9,156 shares during the last quarter. 54.48% of the stock is currently 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.