Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Snap Call Options (NYSE:SNAP)

Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors purchased 134,605 call options on the company. This is an increase of 60% compared to the average volume of 84,074 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on SNAP shares. B. Riley lowered their price objective on Snap from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on shares of Snap from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Snap in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Snap from $14.50 to $10.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Snap from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-three have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Snap currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $35.62.

Snap Trading Up 6.8%

NYSE SNAP traded up $0.56 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $8.70. 39,182,679 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 33,651,602. The stock has a market cap of $14.53 billion, a PE ratio of -28.05 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $8.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.58. Snap has a 52 week low of $7.08 and a 52 week high of $17.33. The company has a quick ratio of 4.30, a current ratio of 4.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported ($0.08) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.04 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.35 billion. Snap had a negative return on equity of 21.53% and a negative net margin of 9.63%. Snap's revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.03 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Snap will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Snap news, General Counsel Michael J. O'sullivan sold 24,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.60, for a total transaction of $206,400.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 507,660 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,365,876. The trade was a 4.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Derek Andersen sold 33,886 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.04, for a total transaction of $272,443.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 3,204,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,763,520.72. This represents a 1.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,639,601 shares of company stock valued at $13,532,151. 22.68% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Snap

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital International Investors purchased a new stake in shares of Snap during the 4th quarter worth $422,049,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Snap by 38.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 84,137,317 shares of the company's stock worth $906,161,000 after purchasing an additional 23,569,522 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Snap by 6.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 109,483,491 shares of the company's stock valued at $953,601,000 after buying an additional 6,921,841 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Snap by 110.4% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,300,874 shares of the company's stock worth $95,549,000 after acquiring an additional 5,930,766 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Snap by 121.9% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,848,370 shares of the company's stock worth $59,649,000 after purchasing an additional 3,761,629 shares during the last quarter. 47.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Snap Company 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.

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