Snap (NYSE:SNAP) CTO Robert Murphy Sells 2,000,000 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Snap CTO Robert Murphy sold 2 million shares at an average $5.02 each, totaling $10.04 million. After the sale, he retained 34.6 million shares; his stake decreased 5.47%.
• Snap shares traded at $5.00, down $0.06 on the day. The company reported quarterly revenue of $1.72 billion, up 14.3% year over year but slightly below estimates, and earnings per share of $0.03.
• Analysts’ consensus rating was Hold, with a $7.31 average price target; JPMorgan lowered its target to $5 and assigned an underweight rating.

Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP - Get Free Report) CTO Robert Murphy sold 2,000,000 shares of Snap stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.02, for a total value of $10,040,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 34,586,451 shares of the company's stock, valued at $173,623,984.02. This represents a 5.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Snap Price Performance

SNAP stock traded down $0.06 on Tuesday, reaching $5.00. The company had a trading volume of 33,487,373 shares, compared to its average volume of 45,360,528. The company's fifty day moving average is $5.73 and its 200 day moving average is $5.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 3.36 and a quick ratio of 3.36. Snap Inc. has a 1 year low of $3.81 and a 1 year high of $9.13.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter. Snap had a negative return on equity of 7.10% and a negative net margin of 2.30%. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.06) earnings per share. Snap's revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Snap Inc. will post -0.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Snap

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Snap by 278.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 14,771,533 shares of the company's stock valued at $79,766,000 after buying an additional 10,868,392 shares during the period. Empyrean Capital Partners LP acquired a new position in Snap during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,300,000. Saba Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in Snap by 232.5% during the first quarter. Saba Capital Management L.P. now owns 4,727,808 shares of the company's stock worth $21,748,000 after buying an additional 3,306,024 shares during the period. Riposte Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Snap during the first quarter worth approximately $5,520,000. Finally, CenterBook Partners LP grew its stake in Snap by 175.4% during the third quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 1,197,958 shares of the company's stock worth $6,469,000 after buying an additional 762,979 shares during the period. 47.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SNAP has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Snap from $6.00 to $5.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 5th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Snap from $5.00 to $5.25 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $8.00 price target on shares of Snap in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Snap in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $7.50 price target on shares of Snap in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Snap has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $7.31.

About Snap

Snap Inc. is a technology company best known for Snapchat, a mobile application for visual communication. The company's products and services help people share photos and videos, message friends, and explore content from creators and publishers. Snapchat features include Stories, Spotlight for short-form video, Snap Map, and augmented reality tools such as interactive Lenses. Snap also provides advertising solutions to businesses and develops camera-related products and services, including its Spectacles smart glasses and Snap AR platform.

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