Westpac Banking Corp Has $654,000 Holdings in Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP)

Key Points

• Westpac Banking Corp increased its stake in Snap Inc. by 162.5% during the first quarter, owning a total of 75,053 shares valued at $654,000.
• Other institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and Capital World Investors, significantly raised their positions in Snap, reflecting growing interest in the company.
• Snap's recent quarterly earnings report showed revenue growth of 8.7% year-over-year, maintaining an EPS of (0.16), consistent with analyst expectations.

Westpac Banking Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP - Free Report) by 162.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 75,053 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 46,459 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp's holdings in Snap were worth $654,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SNAP. NBC Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Snap by 154,650.0% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 3,095 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 3,093 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new position in Snap during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Snap by 155.4% during the first quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 3,489 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 2,123 shares during the period. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Snap during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Snap in the first quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.52% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Snap

In other Snap news, CTO Robert C. Murphy sold 1,000,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.80, for a total value of $7,800,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 53,215,224 shares in the company, valued at $415,078,747.20. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ajit Mohan sold 28,201 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.40, for a total transaction of $265,089.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,676,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,357,154.20. This represents a 0.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,202,570 shares of company stock valued at $9,525,096 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 22.68% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SNAP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Snap from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. B. Riley cut their price target on shares of Snap from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $12.00 price target on shares of Snap in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Snap from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Snap from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-two have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Snap has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $34.16.

Snap Stock Up 1.0%

SNAP traded up $0.07 during trading on Friday, reaching $7.15. 46,745,551 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 52,566,500. Snap Inc. has a twelve month low of $7.06 and a twelve month high of $13.28. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $8.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 3.88 and a quick ratio of 3.88.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.16). Snap had a negative net margin of 9.69% and a negative return on equity of 23.32%. The firm had revenue of $1.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.15) earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Snap Inc. will post -0.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Snap

Snap Inc operates as a technology company in North America, Europe, and internationally. The company offers Snapchat, a visual messaging application with various tabs, such as camera, visual messaging, snap map, stories, and spotlight that enable people to communicate visually through short videos and images.