Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twenty-four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $40.42.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PINS. Guggenheim decreased their price target on Pinterest from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Wolfe Research raised Pinterest from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Pinterest from $46.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Pinterest from $28.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Pinterest from $47.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st.

Insider Transactions at Pinterest

In related news, CAO Andrea Acosta sold 3,759 shares of Pinterest stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.86, for a total transaction of $119,761.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 171,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,459,943.78. This trade represents a 2.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Wanjiku Juanita Walcott sold 12,253 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.24, for a total transaction of $395,036.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 228,510 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,367,162.40. The trade was a 5.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,075,021 shares of company stock worth $35,411,517 over the last ninety days. 7.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pinterest

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PINS. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Pinterest by 23.2% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 1,377,109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,690,000 after purchasing an additional 259,485 shares in the last quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. grew its stake in shares of Pinterest by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 174,329 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,404,000 after buying an additional 10,276 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank increased its position in Pinterest by 180.3% in the 1st quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 22,226 shares of the company’s stock valued at $689,000 after buying an additional 14,296 shares in the last quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Pinterest during the 1st quarter worth approximately $60,000. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new position in Pinterest in the first quarter worth approximately $15,035,000. Institutional investors own 88.81% of the company’s stock.

Pinterest Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PINS opened at $34.77 on Thursday. Pinterest has a 52 week low of $23.68 and a 52 week high of $45.19. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $29.95 and its 200 day moving average is $31.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.69, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.91.

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $854.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $848.49 million. Pinterest had a return on equity of 8.13% and a net margin of 50.41%. The business’s revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.17 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Pinterest will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current year.

About Pinterest

Pinterest, Inc operates as a visual search and discovery platform in the United States and internationally. Its platform allows people to find ideas, such as recipes, home and style inspiration, and others; and to search, save, and shop the ideas. The company was formerly known as Cold Brew Labs Inc and changed its name to Pinterest, Inc in April 2012.