Snap Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:SNAP)

Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders bought 91,662 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 32% compared to the typical daily volume of 69,550 call options.

Snap Stock Performance

NYSE:SNAP traded up $0.38 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $6.24. The stock had a trading volume of 32,683,678 shares, compared to its average volume of 45,519,207. The company has a current ratio of 2.94, a quick ratio of 2.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.69 and a beta of 1.07. Snap has a 52 week low of $3.81 and a 52 week high of $9.13.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. Snap had a negative net margin of 4.90% and a negative return on equity of 14.61%. Snap’s revenue was up 18.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.16) earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Snap will post -0.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Snap

In other news, General Counsel Zachary Briers sold 136,504 shares of Snap stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.20, for a total value of $709,820.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 2,424,331 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,606,521.20. This trade represents a 5.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Douglas Hott sold 131,884 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.20, for a total value of $685,796.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 2,324,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,087,727.60. This trade represents a 5.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 2,445,926 shares of company stock worth $13,426,930 over the last quarter. 22.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Snap by 104.1% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 26,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 13,558 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Snap during the 2nd quarter worth about $93,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Snap by 37.8% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 66,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,000 after buying an additional 18,265 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Snap by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 306,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 14,246 shares during the period. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Snap in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SNAP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore set a $8.00 target price on shares of Snap in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Snap from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Snap in a research report on Friday, July 17th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Snap from $5.00 to $5.25 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Snap in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Snap has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.65.

About Snap

Snap Inc is a technology and social media company best known for Snapchat, a visual communication platform that enables users to share photos, videos, messages and other content. Snapchat includes features such as Stories, Spotlight for short-form video, Snap Map, augmented reality (AR) Lenses and Bitmoji digital avatars.

The company primarily generates revenue through digital advertising, including advertising formats integrated into Snapchat’s content and communication experiences. Snap also offers subscription services through Snapchat+, develops AR-related products and services, and has introduced hardware products such as Spectacles, smart glasses designed to support augmented reality experiences.

Founded in 2011, the company was initially known as Snapchat Inc and adopted the name Snap Inc in 2016.