AQR Capital Management LLC Boosts Stake in Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP)

AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP - Free Report) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,370,108 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 414,224 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 0.32% of Snap worth $57,836,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SNAP. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Snap in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new stake in Snap in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Snap during the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Snap by 128.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,370 shares of the company's stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 2,453 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych bought a new position in shares of Snap in the 4th quarter valued at about $54,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.52% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Rebecca Morrow sold 8,837 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.84, for a total value of $95,793.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 429,892 shares in the company, valued at $4,660,029.28. This represents a 2.01 % 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 link. Also, CFO Derek Andersen sold 61,334 shares of Snap stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.84, for a total value of $664,860.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 3,564,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,636,307.40. The trade was a 1.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,362,523 shares of company stock worth $20,719,017. 22.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. JMP Securities set a $12.00 target price on Snap in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Snap from $13.00 to $8.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Snap from $14.50 to $10.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Snap from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $12.00 price objective on shares of Snap in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-three have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $35.50.

Snap Price Performance

Snap stock traded down $0.22 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $8.15. The company had a trading volume of 7,219,940 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,368,677. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 3.95 and a current ratio of 3.95. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $8.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.82 billion, a PE ratio of -19.39 and a beta of 0.61. Snap Inc. has a 1-year low of $7.08 and a 1-year high of $17.33.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.08) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.04 by ($0.12). Snap had a negative net margin of 13.02% and a negative return on equity of 25.67%. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.03 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Snap Inc. will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Snap Profile

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.