Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS) saw strong trading volume on Wednesday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $47.00 to $48.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. 7,867,125 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 18% from the previous session’s volume of 9,572,304 shares.The stock last traded at $39.25 and had previously closed at $33.45.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on PINS. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Pinterest from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Pinterest from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $48.00 target price (up previously from $45.00) on shares of Pinterest in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Pinterest from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Pinterest in a research note on Wednesday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.82.

Insider Activity at Pinterest

In other news, CFO Donnelly Julia Brau sold 65,972 shares of Pinterest stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.42, for a total transaction of $2,270,756.24. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 392,829 shares in the company, valued at $13,521,174.18. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Donnelly Julia Brau sold 65,972 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.42, for a total value of $2,270,756.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 392,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,521,174.18. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Sabrina Ellis sold 24,410 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.49, for a total transaction of $866,310.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 500,504 shares in the company, valued at $17,762,886.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 164,471 shares of company stock worth $5,773,431. 7.11% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pinterest

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PINS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Pinterest by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,348,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,087,165,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439,595 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Pinterest by 43.9% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 11,122,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,639,000 after acquiring an additional 3,390,924 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Pinterest by 34.0% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 10,036,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $371,764,000 after acquiring an additional 2,548,925 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position in Pinterest by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 9,305,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $344,685,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043,173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Pinterest by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,887,130 shares of the company’s stock worth $329,179,000 after purchasing an additional 64,270 shares during the last quarter. 88.81% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pinterest Stock Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $34.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.40. The company has a market cap of $27.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -673.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.99.

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.04. Pinterest had a negative net margin of 1.17% and a positive return on equity of 3.83%. The firm had revenue of $981.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.62 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Pinterest, Inc. will post 0.36 EPS for the current fiscal 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.