Pinterest Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:PINS)

Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors bought 66,185 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 83% compared to the average daily volume of 36,226 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on PINS. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Pinterest from $40.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. HSBC cut shares of Pinterest from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $24.90 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Citigroup lowered shares of Pinterest from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $38.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Wolfe Research set a $33.00 price objective on Pinterest and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $19.00 target price (down from $39.00) on shares of Pinterest in a report on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and nineteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pinterest presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.87.

Pinterest Trading Down 5.9%

PINS stock traded down $1.14 during trading on Thursday, reaching $18.24. The stock had a trading volume of 12,499,935 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,624,436. Pinterest has a 1-year low of $13.84 and a 1-year high of $39.93. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $21.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.56. The company has a market capitalization of $12.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.20, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.93.

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.01). Pinterest had a return on equity of 7.95% and a net margin of 9.87%.The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.56 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Pinterest will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pinterest

In other news, CFO Donnelly Julia Brau sold 22,821 shares of Pinterest stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.86, for a total value of $590,151.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 540,358 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,973,657.88. The trade was a 4.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Malik Ducard sold 6,000 shares of Pinterest stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.86, for a total transaction of $155,160.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 699,773 shares in the company, valued at $18,096,129.78. This represents a 0.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 34,457 shares of company stock worth $876,925. Insiders own 7.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pinterest

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PINS. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Pinterest by 67.8% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 126,647 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,280,000 after acquiring an additional 51,181 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in Pinterest by 40.6% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 834,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,596,000 after purchasing an additional 241,154 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in Pinterest by 2,017.3% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049 shares in the last quarter. MidFirst Bank purchased a new position in Pinterest in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Pinterest by 32.9% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,951,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,412,000 after purchasing an additional 730,358 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.81% of the company’s stock.

About Pinterest

Pinterest, Inc operates a visual discovery platform that helps users find inspiration and ideas for projects ranging from home design and fashion to cooking and travel. Users create and curate “Pins” — images or videos linked to content — organized on thematic boards. The service is available through its website and mobile applications and emphasizes personalized recommendations and visual search to surface relevant content based on user interests.

The company’s primary revenue model is advertising, offering promoted content formats that integrate into user feeds and search results.