Traders Buy High Volume of Snap Call Options (NYSE:SNAP)

Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors acquired 128,528 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 46% compared to the typical daily volume of 87,999 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SNAP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $640.00 price target on shares of Snap in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Snap from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $15.00 to $11.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Snap in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Snap from $14.00 to $14.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Snap from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.87.

Snap Stock Up 2.8 %

NYSE:SNAP traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $9.30. 42,037,383 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 29,261,643. The company has a fifty day moving average of $10.56 and a 200 day moving average of $10.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 3.95 and a current ratio of 3.95. Snap has a twelve month low of $8.29 and a twelve month high of $17.33. The company has a market capitalization of $15.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -22.13 and a beta of 0.92.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by ($0.13). Snap had a negative net margin of 13.02% and a negative return on equity of 25.67%. On average, analysts forecast that Snap will post -0.3 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Eric Young sold 102,152 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.84, for a total transaction of $1,107,327.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,443,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,326,661.96. This trade represents a 2.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Michael J. O’sullivan sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.84, for a total value of $195,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 498,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,403,718.32. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,350,523 shares of company stock valued at $12,698,797 over the last 90 days. 22.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Snap

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Snap by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 17,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $184,000 after purchasing an additional 2,792 shares during the last quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ acquired a new position in shares of Snap during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,838,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Snap in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,135,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Snap in the fourth quarter worth approximately $225,000. Finally, Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Snap during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,924,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.52% 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.