Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Hold” consensus on Snap, with 24 hold, 8 buy, 2 strong-buy and 2 sell ratings among 36 analysts. The average 12-month price target is $7.65.
• Snap beat quarterly expectations, reporting an adjusted loss of $0.10 per share versus the $0.12 consensus estimate and revenue of $1.60 billion, up 18.9% year over year.
• Snap is expanding beyond advertising with its SPECS Intelligence AI service and enterprise-focused AR glasses partnerships, but investors remain cautious as the stock has declined and insiders sold roughly $13.4 million of shares over the past 90 days.

Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Hold" from the thirty-six ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twenty-four have given a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $7.6483.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on SNAP shares. Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Snap in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $6.50 price objective on shares of Snap in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Snap from $6.40 to $6.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Snap in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Snap from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th.

Snap Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SNAP opened at $5.65 on Friday. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.19. The company has a market cap of $9.56 billion, a PE ratio of -31.41 and a beta of 1.05. Snap has a 12-month low of $3.81 and a 12-month high of $9.28.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.54 billion. Snap had a negative return on equity of 14.61% and a negative net margin of 4.90%.The firm's revenue was up 18.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.16) EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Snap will post -0.02 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Snap news, CFO Douglas Hott sold 131,884 shares of the company's 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 $685,796.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,324,563 shares in the company, valued at $12,087,727.60. This represents a 5.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CAO Rebecca Morrow sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.35, for a total value of $107,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 578,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,092,861.75. The trade was a 3.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,439,129 shares of company stock valued at $13,387,372. 22.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Snap

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SNAP. Empyrean Capital Partners LP purchased a new stake in Snap in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,300,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Snap by 1,191.8% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,903,141 shares of the company's stock worth $17,330,000 after purchasing an additional 3,601,002 shares in the last quarter. Saba Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Snap by 232.5% during the 1st quarter. Saba Capital Management L.P. now owns 4,727,808 shares of the company's stock worth $21,748,000 after purchasing an additional 3,306,024 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Snap by 44.7% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,535,783 shares of the company's stock worth $20,865,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401,178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riposte Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Snap during the 1st quarter valued at about $5,520,000. Institutional investors own 47.52% of the company's stock.

More Snap News

Here are the key news stories impacting Snap this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Snap introduced SPECS Intelligence, an anticipatory AI service designed to work across iPhones, Macs and its SPECS AR glasses. The service is intended to use users’ goals, routines and connected apps to provide personalized assistance, potentially creating a new growth opportunity beyond Snap’s advertising business. Snap Introduces SPECS Intelligence
• Positive Sentiment: Snap is targeting the enterprise market for its approximately $2,000 SPECS glasses through partnerships with Nvidia, Amazon Web Services and Salesforce. Enterprise adoption could broaden the product’s revenue potential beyond consumers, although the strategy is still unproven. Snap Enterprise AR Partnerships
• Positive Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed its “sector perform” rating while setting an $8.00 price target, implying substantial upside from recent trading levels. The target is supportive, though the maintained rating signals limited conviction. RBC Snap Price Target
• Neutral Sentiment: Call-option volume was about 54% above its average, indicating increased speculative interest. Options activity can support near-term momentum, but it does not necessarily represent sustained institutional buying.
• Neutral Sentiment: Snap’s new SPECS experiences and services will become available for consumer trials beginning October 1, giving investors a near-term product-launch catalyst. SPECS Product Announcement
• Negative Sentiment: The stock’s decline while the market gained indicates that investors may be selling the announcement or waiting for evidence that AI and AR investments can translate into meaningful revenue and profitability. Snap Stock Market Performance

About Snap

Snap Inc is a technology and social media company best known for Snapchat, a visual messaging and social networking application. Snapchat enables users to communicate through photos, videos, text messages and augmented reality experiences, including Lenses and filters. The platform also offers Stories, Spotlight for short-form video, Snap Map and other tools for discovering and sharing content.

Snap generates most of its business through digital advertising, including advertising displayed across Snapchat's content and communication features.

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