Snap Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:SNAP)

Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 195,165 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 50% compared to the typical daily volume of 129,796 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on SNAP shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Snap from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Snap from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Snap from $22.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Snap from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $10.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Snap from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Rebecca Morrow sold 9,386 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.14, for a total transaction of $104,560.04. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 495,526 shares in the company, valued at $5,520,159.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CAO Rebecca Morrow sold 9,386 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.14, for a total value of $104,560.04. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 495,526 shares in the company, valued at $5,520,159.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Michael J. O’sullivan sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.53, for a total transaction of $207,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 474,812 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,474,582.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 470,482 shares of company stock worth $5,284,091 over the last 90 days. 22.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Snap

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sowell Financial Services LLC grew its stake in Snap by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 23,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $392,000 after acquiring an additional 729 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Snap by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 41,245 shares of the company’s stock worth $698,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Snap by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 13,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $176,000 after purchasing an additional 930 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Snap by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 31,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $533,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in shares of Snap by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 23,434 shares of the company’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 1,017 shares during the period. 47.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Snap Price Performance

SNAP stock opened at $11.63 on Friday. Snap has a 12 month low of $7.86 and a 12 month high of $17.90. The company has a current ratio of 4.39, a quick ratio of 4.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $11.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.71. The stock has a market cap of $19.20 billion, a PE ratio of -14.01 and a beta of 1.13.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.16) by $0.04. Snap had a negative net margin of 28.71% and a negative return on equity of 47.47%. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.39 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Snap will post -0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Snap Company Profile

Snap Inc operates as a technology company in North America, Europe, and internationally. The company offers Snapchat, a visual messaging application with various tabs, such as camera, visual messaging, snap map, stories, and spotlight that enable people to communicate visually through short videos and images.