Snap Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:SNAP)

Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 195,165 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 50% compared to the typical volume of 129,796 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SNAP shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Snap from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Snap from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Snap from $12.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Snap from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Snap from $22.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Snap news, General Counsel Michael J. O’sullivan sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.16, for a total transaction of $210,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 461,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,449,840.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, General Counsel Michael J. O’sullivan sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.16, for a total value of $210,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 461,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,449,840.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Michael J. O’sullivan sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.53, for a total value of $207,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 474,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,474,582.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 470,054 shares of company stock worth $5,279,729.

Institutional Trading of Snap

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Snap by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 95,317,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,613,729,000 after buying an additional 3,503,230 shares during the period. SRS Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Snap by 23.6% in the fourth quarter. SRS Investment Management LLC now owns 65,114,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,102,392,000 after buying an additional 12,452,415 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Snap by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,887,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $776,868,000 after buying an additional 274,176 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Snap by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 18,959,640 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,988,000 after buying an additional 4,243,620 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Snap by 95.8% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,811,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $641,028,000 after buying an additional 8,712,380 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 47.52% of the company’s stock.

Snap Stock Up 4.7 %

Shares of SNAP opened at $10.90 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.71. The company has a market cap of $17.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.13 and a beta of 1.13. Snap has a one year low of $7.86 and a one year high of $17.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 4.39 and a quick ratio of 4.39.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported ($0.12) earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.39 billion. Research analysts forecast that Snap will post -0.58 EPS for the current fiscal 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.