Snap Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:SNAP)

Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors acquired 195,165 call options on the company. This is an increase of 50% compared to the typical daily volume of 129,796 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group dropped their price target on Snap from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Snap from $12.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Snap from $17.00 to $13.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Snap from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on Snap from $9.50 to $12.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $13.65.

Insider Activity at Snap

In related news, CAO Rebecca Morrow sold 9,386 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.14, for a total transaction of $104,560.04. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 495,526 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,520,159.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Snap news, CAO Rebecca Morrow sold 9,386 shares of Snap stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.14, for a total value of $104,560.04. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 495,526 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,520,159.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Evan Spiegel sold 150,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.11, for a total transaction of $1,666,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,627,844 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,305,346.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 470,054 shares of company stock valued at $5,279,729.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Snap

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SNAP. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Snap by 2,580.4% during the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,501 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 1,445 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in Snap by 161.6% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,765 shares of the company's stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 1,708 shares during the last quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Snap during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Snap by 75.0% during the third quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,500 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in Snap by 365.3% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,941 shares of the company's stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 3,094 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.52% of the company's stock.

Snap Stock Performance

NYSE:SNAP traded up $0.49 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $10.90. 54,189,189 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 29,390,471. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $11.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.71. Snap has a one year low of $7.86 and a one year high of $17.90. The company has a quick ratio of 4.39, a current ratio of 4.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. The firm has a market cap of $17.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.13 and a beta of 1.13.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by $0.04. Snap had a negative return on equity of 47.47% and a negative net margin of 28.71%. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.39 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Snap will post -0.58 earnings per share 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.