Snap (NYSE:SNAP) Rating Lowered to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Snap from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Zacks Research raised Snap from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Snap in a report on Friday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Snap in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $7.50 target price on Snap in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.65.

Snap Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Snap stock opened at $5.67 on Friday. Snap has a 1 year low of $3.81 and a 1 year high of $9.28. The company has a market cap of $9.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -31.47 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.94, a quick ratio of 2.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $5.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.17.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by $0.02. Snap had a negative net margin of 4.90% and a negative return on equity of 14.61%. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.16) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Snap will post -0.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Robert Murphy sold 2,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.55, for a total transaction of $11,100,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 41,809,791 shares in the company, valued at $232,044,340.05. The trade was a 4.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Zachary M. Briers sold 11,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.00, for a total value of $67,542.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 2,345,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,073,204. This trade represents a 0.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,446,052 shares of company stock worth $13,426,002.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SNAP. Saba Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in Snap by 232.5% during the first quarter. Saba Capital Management L.P. now owns 4,727,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,748,000 after purchasing an additional 3,306,024 shares during the period. Empyrean Capital Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Snap in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,300,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Snap by 1,191.8% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,903,141 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,330,000 after buying an additional 3,601,002 shares in the last quarter. Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new position in shares of Snap in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,620,000. Finally, Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new position in shares of Snap during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,629,000. 47.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Snap

Snap Inc is a technology and social media company best known for Snapchat, a visual messaging and social networking application. Snapchat enables users to communicate through photos, videos, text messages and augmented reality experiences, including Lenses and filters. The platform also offers Stories, Spotlight for short-form video, Snap Map and other tools for discovering and sharing content.

Snap generates most of its business through digital advertising, including advertising displayed across Snapchat’s content and communication features.