HSBC Upgrades Snap (NYSE:SNAP) to Buy

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) was upgraded by equities research analysts at HSBC from a “reduce” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on SNAP. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Snap from $15.00 to $13.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Snap from $17.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Snap from $12.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $14.00 price target on shares of Snap in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Snap from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, January 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Snap has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.95.

Snap Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE SNAP opened at $11.40 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.39, a quick ratio of 4.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. Snap has a 12-month low of $7.86 and a 12-month high of $17.90. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $11.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.73 and a beta of 1.13.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.12 billion. Snap had a negative return on equity of 47.47% and a negative net margin of 28.71%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Snap will post -0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Snap news, General Counsel Michael J. O’sullivan sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.53, for a total value of $207,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 474,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,474,582.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, General Counsel Michael J. O’sullivan sold 18,000 shares of Snap stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.53, for a total transaction of $207,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 474,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,474,582.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Michael J. O’sullivan sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.16, for a total transaction of $210,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 461,005 shares in the company, valued at $7,449,840.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 470,482 shares of company stock worth $5,284,091 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 22.68% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Snap

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SNAP. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Snap by 1.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 91,814,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $818,067,000 after buying an additional 1,352,655 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Snap by 565.4% in the third quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 262,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,343,000 after buying an additional 223,432 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of Snap by 161.6% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 1,708 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund purchased a new position in shares of Snap during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $423,000. Finally, Korea Investment CORP grew its stake in Snap by 191.7% in the 3rd quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 415,635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,703,000 after acquiring an additional 273,156 shares during the period. 47.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Snap

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.