Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) Stock Price

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) had its target price dropped by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $42.00 to $28.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 11.27% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on PINS. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price (up from $45.00) on shares of Pinterest in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Pinterest from $46.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Pinterest from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised Pinterest from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Pinterest from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.55.

Pinterest Stock Down 1.1 %

Pinterest stock opened at $25.17 on Thursday. Pinterest has a 12 month low of $23.68 and a 12 month high of $45.19. The stock has a market cap of $17.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.92.

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.30). Pinterest had a net margin of 51.07% and a return on equity of 8.10%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Pinterest will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Pinterest

In related news, insider Wanjiku Juanita Walcott sold 6,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.85, for a total value of $219,766.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 254,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,350,831.35. The trade was a 2.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Benjamin Silbermann sold 102,083 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.27, for a total value of $3,192,135.41. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,187.98. This represents a 94.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 452,686 shares of company stock valued at $14,797,342 over the last quarter. 7.11% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pinterest

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PINS. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in Pinterest by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 12,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $366,000 after buying an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pinterest by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 11,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $342,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its position in Pinterest by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 39,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,154,000 after acquiring an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Pinterest by 63.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Steph & Co. raised its position in Pinterest by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 7,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,000 after purchasing an additional 425 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.81% of the company’s stock.

Pinterest Company Profile

Pinterest, Inc operates as a visual search and discovery platform in the United States and internationally. Its platform allows people to find ideas, such as recipes, home and style inspiration, and others; and to search, save, and shop the ideas. The company was formerly known as Cold Brew Labs Inc and changed its name to Pinterest, Inc in April 2012.