Snap (NYSE:SNAP) Trading Down 3% Following Insider Selling

Shares of Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) dropped 3% during trading on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $15.71 and last traded at $15.77. Approximately 7,709,426 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 28,284,424 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.26.

Specifically, CTO Robert C. Murphy sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.27, for a total transaction of $14,270,000.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 59,894,865 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $854,699,723.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Snap news, General Counsel Michael J. O’sullivan sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.56, for a total transaction of $298,080.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 481,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,980,396.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Robert C. Murphy sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.27, for a total transaction of $14,270,000.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 59,894,865 shares in the company, valued at approximately $854,699,723.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,372,583 shares of company stock valued at $19,934,275.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on SNAP. Roth Mkm restated a “neutral” rating and set a $14.00 price target on shares of Snap in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. HSBC upgraded shares of Snap from a “reduce” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Snap in a research report on Friday, April 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Snap from $13.50 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Snap from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.82.

Snap Trading Down 3.1 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $25.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.44 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $15.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 3.76 and a quick ratio of 3.76.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.12 billion. Snap had a negative net margin of 26.99% and a negative return on equity of 46.62%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Snap Inc. will post -0.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Snap

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SNAP. SRS Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Snap by 23.6% in the fourth quarter. SRS Investment Management LLC now owns 65,114,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,102,392,000 after buying an additional 12,452,415 shares in the last quarter. Carmignac Gestion bought a new position in Snap in the fourth quarter worth about $110,103,000. Contrarius Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in Snap in the fourth quarter worth about $80,644,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 worth $1,613,729,000 after purchasing an additional 3,503,230 shares during the period. Finally, TB Alternative Assets Ltd. grew its holdings in Snap by 144.5% in the first quarter. TB Alternative Assets Ltd. now owns 5,094,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,488,000 after purchasing an additional 3,011,400 shares during the period. 47.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.