HubSpot (NYSE:HUBS) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded HubSpot from "buy" to "strong-buy," while the street consensus remains a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $429.90 despite several firms trimming targets.
• Shares fell ~6.1% to open at $192.46, far below the 12‑month high of $682.57, after HubSpot reported quarterly EPS of $3.09 (vs. $2.99 est.) and revenue of $846.8M, up 20.4% year‑over‑year.
• Insider selling and heavy institutional ownership: insiders sold 26,691 shares over the past 90 days while institutions now hold about 90.39% of the stock, with major new or expanded positions from firms like Price T. Rowe, AQR and Capital World.

HubSpot (NYSE:HUBS - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of HubSpot from $517.00 to $442.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of HubSpot in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of HubSpot from $800.00 to $400.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of HubSpot from $700.00 to $300.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of HubSpot in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $429.90.

HubSpot Trading Down 6.1%

Shares of HUBS stock opened at $192.46 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $247.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $348.54. The company has a market cap of $10.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 221.21, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.44. HubSpot has a 12 month low of $187.45 and a 12 month high of $682.57.

HubSpot (NYSE:HUBS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The software maker reported $3.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.99 by $0.10. HubSpot had a net margin of 1.47% and a return on equity of 3.64%. The firm had revenue of $846.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $830.65 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.32 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that HubSpot will post 1.01 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other HubSpot news, Director Brian Halligan sold 8,500 shares of HubSpot stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.38, for a total value of $2,578,730.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 487,344 shares in the company, valued at approximately $147,850,422.72. The trade was a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Erika Ashley Fisher sold 841 shares of HubSpot stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.01, for a total transaction of $200,166.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 10,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,408,423.19. This represents a 7.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,691 shares of company stock worth $7,250,662. 4.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HUBS. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in HubSpot by 36.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,581,922 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,838,727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,224,424 shares during the period. Capital World Investors acquired a new position in shares of HubSpot during the fourth quarter worth about $259,930,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of HubSpot by 117.6% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,188,981 shares of the software maker's stock worth $477,138,000 after acquiring an additional 642,545 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in shares of HubSpot by 32.7% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,935,587 shares of the software maker's stock worth $776,714,000 after acquiring an additional 476,740 shares during the period. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its stake in shares of HubSpot by 408.1% during the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 560,088 shares of the software maker's stock worth $224,763,000 after acquiring an additional 449,864 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About HubSpot

HubSpot, Inc is a software company that develops a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) platform designed to help organizations attract, engage and delight customers. Its primary business activities center on providing integrated marketing, sales and customer service tools that support inbound marketing strategies, content management, lead nurturing, sales automation and customer support workflows.

The company's product suite is organized around modular “hubs” built on a central CRM: Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, CMS Hub and Operations Hub.

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