Bank of Nova Scotia Increases Holdings in Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS)

Key Points

• The Bank of Nova Scotia significantly increased its holdings in Pinterest by purchasing 439,519 shares, raising its stake by 4,804.5% in the first quarter, now totaling 448,667 shares valued at approximately $13.9 million.
• Several hedge funds, including Price T Rowe Associates and Marshall Wace LLP, also increased their positions in Pinterest, contributing to the high institutional ownership of around 88.81%.
• Pinterest reported its latest quarterly earnings, with earnings per share of $0.23, falling short of analysts' expectations, while revenue grew 15.5% year-over-year to $854.99 million.

Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS - Free Report) by 4,804.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 448,667 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 439,519 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia owned about 0.07% of Pinterest worth $13,909,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Pinterest by 104.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 25,432,141 shares of the company's stock valued at $737,533,000 after acquiring an additional 12,986,310 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pinterest by 49.7% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,635,800 shares of the company's stock worth $395,441,000 after purchasing an additional 4,527,902 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pinterest by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,599,356 shares of the company's stock worth $365,381,000 after buying an additional 316,633 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Pinterest by 134.1% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 10,701,783 shares of the company's stock worth $310,352,000 after acquiring an additional 6,129,985 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Pinterest by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,648,352 shares of the company's stock worth $279,281,000 after acquiring an additional 181,767 shares during the period. 88.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Pinterest

In other Pinterest news, insider Wanjiku Juanita Walcott sold 11,510 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.68, for a total transaction of $410,676.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 390,230 shares in the company, valued at $13,923,406.40. This trade represents a 2.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gokul Rajaram sold 1,150 shares of Pinterest stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.88, for a total transaction of $42,412.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 31,750 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,170,940. The trade was a 3.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,502,611 shares of company stock valued at $51,602,943. Company insiders own 7.06% of the company's stock.

Pinterest Stock Performance

Shares of PINS stock traded down $3.98 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $35.19. 32,903,126 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,889,216. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.87 billion, a PE ratio of 12.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.78. Pinterest, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.68 and a 12 month high of $40.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $35.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.10.

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.01). Pinterest had a return on equity of 8.13% and a net margin of 50.41%. The company had revenue of $998.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $973.42 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.29 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Pinterest, Inc. will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on PINS shares. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 price objective (up from $41.00) on shares of Pinterest in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Pinterest from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Pinterest in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Pinterest in a report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Pinterest from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the company from $37.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $42.20.

Pinterest Profile

Pinterest, Inc operates as a visual search and discovery platform in the United States and internationally. Its platform allows people to find ideas, such as recipes, home and style inspiration, and others; and to search, save, and shop the ideas. The company was formerly known as Cold Brew Labs Inc and changed its name to Pinterest, Inc in April 2012.