Snap Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:SNAP)

Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors bought 136,886 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 47% compared to the typical volume of 93,052 call options.

Insider Activity at Snap

In other Snap news, Director Joanna Coles sold 6,434 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.00, for a total value of $77,208.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 54,761 shares in the company, valued at approximately $657,132. This represents a 10.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Robert C. Murphy sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.50, for a total transaction of $12,500,000.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 57,210,989 shares in the company, valued at $715,137,362.50. The trade was a 1.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,406,709 shares of company stock worth $16,662,107 over the last 90 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Snap

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in Snap during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Paladin Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Snap during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Snap by 141.9% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,782 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 1,632 shares during the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Snap during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Snap by 354.1% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682 shares during the period. 47.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $12.11 target price on shares of Snap in a report on Tuesday. Argus upgraded Snap to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Snap from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Snap in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Snap from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-two have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Snap currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.91.

Snap Trading Up 6.3 %

SNAP opened at $12.87 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.59 billion, a PE ratio of -22.19 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04. Snap has a 12-month low of $8.29 and a 12-month high of $17.90. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $11.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.24.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.03. Snap had a negative net margin of 18.49% and a negative return on equity of 35.60%. The business had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.21) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Snap will post -0.4 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.