Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Raises Position in Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) by 43.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 166,592 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 50,622 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Snap were worth $2,767,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SNAP. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Snap by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 96,148,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,103,786,000 after purchasing an additional 830,889 shares in the last quarter. SRS Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Snap by 23.6% during 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 last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Snap by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 46,272,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $531,206,000 after acquiring an additional 385,191 shares during the period. Ossiam lifted its position in Snap by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Ossiam now owns 11,334,804 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,124,000 after acquiring an additional 751,846 shares during the period. Finally, Carmignac Gestion purchased a new stake in Snap during the 4th quarter valued at about $110,103,000. 47.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on SNAP. Roth Mkm decreased their target price on Snap from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Snap from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $12.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Snap from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Snap in a report on Thursday, September 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $8.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Snap from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-two have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Snap presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.87.

Snap Price Performance

Shares of Snap stock opened at $9.51 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.61 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.74 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.86. Snap Inc. has a 12 month low of $8.28 and a 12 month high of $17.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 3.98 and a quick ratio of 3.98.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.02. Snap had a negative return on equity of 42.84% and a negative net margin of 23.49%. The company had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Snap Inc. will post -0.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Snap

In other news, CAO Rebecca Morrow sold 8,923 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.10, for a total transaction of $81,199.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 472,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,298,885.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, General Counsel Michael J. O’sullivan sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.56, for a total transaction of $298,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 481,908 shares in the company, valued at $7,980,396.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Rebecca Morrow sold 8,923 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.10, for a total transaction of $81,199.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 472,405 shares in the company, valued at $4,298,885.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,352,420 shares of company stock valued at $12,091,682. Corporate insiders own 22.68% of the company’s stock.

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.