Snap (NYSE:SNAP) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Snap (NYSE:SNAP) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on SNAP. Mizuho upped their target price on Snap from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Snap in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Snap in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Snap from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Snap in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $7.65.

Snap Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of NYSE SNAP opened at $5.83 on Friday. Snap has a 1 year low of $3.81 and a 1 year high of $9.28. The firm has a market cap of $9.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -32.37 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 2.94 and a current ratio of 2.94. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.18.

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

Insider Transactions at Snap

In other Snap news, insider Ajit Mohan sold 54,608 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.20, for a total transaction of $283,961.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 4,972,097 shares in the company, valued at $25,854,904.40. The trade was a 1.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Douglas Hott sold 131,884 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.20, for a total transaction of $685,796.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,324,563 shares in the company, valued at $12,087,727.60. This trade represents a 5.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 2,439,129 shares of company stock valued at $13,387,372 over the last quarter.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Snap

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Snap by 561.4% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,618 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 3,071 shares during the last quarter. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac acquired a new stake in Snap in the fourth quarter worth $49,000. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in Snap by 6,678.0% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 6,778 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 6,678 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp increased its position in Snap by 62.8% in the fourth quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 7,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 3,024 shares during the period. Finally, NFSG Corp lifted its stake in Snap by 52.7% in the first quarter. NFSG Corp now owns 8,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 2,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.52% of the company’s stock.

Snap Company Profile

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.