Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirty-five analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twenty-three have assigned a hold recommendation, nine have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $7.7944.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SNAP. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Snap to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Snap from $7.00 to $6.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Snap in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Freedom Capital lowered shares of Snap from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Snap in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th.

Insider Activity

In other Snap news, insider Ajit Mohan sold 6,923 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.58, for a total value of $38,630.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,050,968 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,184,401.44. This trade represents a 0.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CAO Rebecca Morrow sold 16,729 shares of Snap stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.60, for a total transaction of $93,682.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 512,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,871,741.60. The trade was a 3.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 2,907,554 shares of company stock valued at $16,093,619 in the last quarter. Insiders own 22.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Snap

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Snap by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 101,251,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $817,100,000 after purchasing an additional 641,271 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Snap by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 88,452,006 shares of the company’s stock valued at $713,808,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179,543 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Snap by 0.3% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,780,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $291,285,000 after buying an additional 95,989 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Snap in the third quarter valued at $176,697,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Snap by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,525,119 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,711,000 after buying an additional 469,795 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.52% of the company’s stock.

Snap Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SNAP opened at $4.83 on Friday. Snap has a 52 week low of $3.81 and a 52 week high of $10.41. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $5.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.85. The company has a market cap of $8.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -20.14 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 3.53, a current ratio of 3.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. Snap had a negative return on equity of 18.92% and a negative net margin of 6.72%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.08) EPS. Research analysts predict that Snap will post -0.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Snap Company Profile

Snap Inc is a camera and social media company best known for developing and operating Snapchat, a multimedia messaging application that allows users to send photos, videos and messages that disappear after being viewed. In addition to its core messaging service, Snap offers a suite of augmented reality (AR) tools, including custom Lenses and Filters, that enable users and third-party developers to create interactive and immersive experiences. The company also provides advertising solutions that allow brands to engage audiences through Snap Ads, Sponsored Lenses and Discover content on the platform.

Founded in 2011 by Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, Snap has continually focused on innovation in camera technology and AR.