Wall Street Zen Upgrades Snap (NYSE:SNAP) to Buy

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Snap from a “market perform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Bank of America upgraded Snap from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $10.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, February 5th. KeyCorp upgraded Snap from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Snap from $9.50 to $6.50 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Sunday, February 22nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $6.40 price target on shares of Snap in a report on Thursday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Snap currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.91.

Snap Price Performance

SNAP stock opened at $6.08 on Friday. Snap has a 1 year low of $3.81 and a 1 year high of $10.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 3.56 and a current ratio of 3.56. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $5.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $6.58. The firm has a market cap of $10.28 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.35 and a beta of 1.05.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.14). Snap had a negative net margin of 6.72% and a negative return on equity of 18.69%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.08) EPS. Snap’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Snap will post -0.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Ajit Mohan sold 119,339 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.70, for a total transaction of $560,893.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 5,158,477 shares in the company, valued at $24,244,841.90. This represents a 2.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Zachary M. Briers sold 134,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.70, for a total value of $633,113.50. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 2,854,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,414,213.60. The trade was a 4.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 1,565,573 shares of company stock worth $8,059,781 in the last three months.

Institutional Trading of Snap

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SNAP. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Snap by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 40,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $352,000 after buying an additional 4,754 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Snap during the 2nd quarter worth $136,000. Investment Management Corp of Ontario increased its holdings in shares of Snap by 104.0% during the 2nd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 61,513 shares of the company’s stock worth $535,000 after buying an additional 31,357 shares during the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Snap during the 2nd quarter worth $1,675,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of Snap by 52.0% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 89,337 shares of the company’s stock worth $776,000 after buying an additional 30,561 shares during the last quarter. 47.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Snap

Here are the key news stories impacting Snap this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results were solid overall, with revenue rising 12% year over year to $1.53 billion and adjusted EBITDA more than doubling, helped by stronger ad demand, user growth, and subscription momentum. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts highlighted improving turnaround momentum after the earnings call, suggesting some investors still see operating leverage and engagement trends improving. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Snap continues to be viewed as an AI-enabled advertising and AR play, with recent partnerships such as Qualcomm and Experian supporting the longer-term growth narrative. Article Title

About Snap

Snap Inc is a camera and social media company best known for developing and operating Snapchat, a multimedia messaging application that allows users to send photos, videos and messages that disappear after being viewed. In addition to its core messaging service, Snap offers a suite of augmented reality (AR) tools, including custom Lenses and Filters, that enable users and third-party developers to create interactive and immersive experiences. The company also provides advertising solutions that allow brands to engage audiences through Snap Ads, Sponsored Lenses and Discover content on the platform.

Founded in 2011 by Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, Snap has continually focused on innovation in camera technology and AR.