Franklin Resources Inc. Boosts Stake in Reddit Inc. $RDDT

Key Points

• Franklin Resources increased its Reddit stake by 27.2% in Q4, holding 501,140 shares valued at about $115.2 million at quarter-end.
• Reddit insiders have been selling shares recently, including CEO Steve Huffman and COO Jennifer L. Wong, with 250,499 shares sold by insiders over the last 90 days.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on RDDT, with 18 Buy ratings and 12 Hold ratings, while the company also beat Q1 expectations with $1.01 EPS and 69.1% revenue growth year over year.

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Reddit Inc. (NYSE:RDDT - Free Report) by 27.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 501,140 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 107,249 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.26% of Reddit worth $115,197,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in shares of Reddit during the fourth quarter worth $15,252,000. Deepwater Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Reddit during the fourth quarter valued at $16,126,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in Reddit by 26.4% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 4,892 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,125,000 after buying an additional 1,022 shares during the period. CenterBook Partners LP acquired a new stake in Reddit during the fourth quarter valued at $1,039,000. Finally, Krane Funds Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Reddit during the fourth quarter valued at $1,516,000.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Reddit news, CEO Steve Ladd Huffman sold 18,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.77, for a total transaction of $2,389,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 411,195 shares in the company, valued at $54,594,360.15. The trade was a 4.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Jennifer L. Wong sold 39,167 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.47, for a total transaction of $6,324,295.49. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 1,088,451 shares of the company's stock, valued at $175,752,182.97. This trade represents a 3.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 250,499 shares of company stock worth $38,515,283 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 28.48% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citizens Jmp dropped their target price on shares of Reddit from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Reddit in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Truist Financial set a $265.00 price target on shares of Reddit in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Reddit in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Reddit from $149.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Reddit presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $230.75.

Reddit Stock Performance

Shares of RDDT stock opened at $172.54 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.30 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $156.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.06. Reddit Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $110.85 and a fifty-two week high of $282.95.

Reddit (NYSE:RDDT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $663.41 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $607.74 million. Reddit had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 25.48%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 69.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Reddit Inc. will post 4.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Reddit

Reddit is an online social news aggregation, discussion and content-sharing platform organized around user-created communities called "subreddits," each focused on a particular topic or interest. Registered users submit links, text posts, images and video, and community members vote and comment to surface popular content. The site is accessed via its web platform and mobile apps for iOS and Android, and it supports live events such as Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions and community-driven discussions.

Founded in 2005 by Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, Reddit is headquartered in San Francisco and serves a global audience with particularly large user bases in the United States and other English-speaking markets.

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