Snap (NYSE:SNAP) Given “Hold” Rating at Benchmark

Snap (NYSE:SNAP)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Benchmark in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Snap from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Snap from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Snap from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Snap from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Snap from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.56.

Snap Price Performance

Shares of SNAP stock traded up $3.48 on Friday, hitting $14.88. 98,003,842 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 31,036,756. The firm has a market cap of $24.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.93 and a beta of 1.13. Snap has a 52 week low of $7.86 and a 52 week high of $17.90. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 4.39 and a quick ratio of 4.39.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.10. Snap had a negative net margin of 28.71% and a negative return on equity of 47.47%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.12 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Snap will post -0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Rebecca Morrow sold 9,386 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.14, for a total transaction of $104,560.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 495,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,520,159.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Snap news, General Counsel Michael J. O’sullivan sold 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the general counsel now owns 461,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,449,840.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Rebecca Morrow sold 9,386 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.14, for a total transaction of $104,560.04. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 495,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,520,159.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 470,482 shares of company stock worth $5,284,091. 22.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Snap

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sowell Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Snap by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 23,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $392,000 after acquiring an additional 729 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Snap by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 41,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $698,000 after acquiring an additional 891 shares during the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Snap by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 31,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $533,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its holdings in shares of Snap by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 23,434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 1,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Snap by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,373 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 1,025 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.52% of the company’s stock.

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.