Snap (NYSE:SNAP) Upgraded to Equal Weight by Morgan Stanley

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) was upgraded by Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a $16.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $12.00. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 17.73% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $16.00 price objective (up previously from $15.00) on shares of Snap in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Snap from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Snap from $15.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Snap from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Snap in a report on Friday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.94.

Snap Stock Down 5.2 %

SNAP opened at $13.59 on Tuesday. Snap has a fifty-two week low of $8.28 and a fifty-two week high of $17.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 3.76 and a current ratio of 3.76. The company has a market capitalization of $22.30 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.78 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $15.70 and a 200-day moving average of $14.05.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.10. Snap had a negative net margin of 26.99% and a negative return on equity of 46.62%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.12 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Snap will post -0.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Snap news, SVP Eric Young sold 115,915 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.91, for a total transaction of $1,844,207.65. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,292,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,386,172.87. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Snap news, SVP Eric Young sold 115,915 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.91, for a total transaction of $1,844,207.65. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,292,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,386,172.87. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Derek Andersen sold 26,682 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.72, for a total transaction of $419,441.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,508,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,425,870.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,373,343 shares of company stock valued at $19,949,967 over the last quarter. 22.68% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Snap

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SNAP. SRS Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Snap by 23.6% during the 4th quarter. SRS Investment Management LLC now owns 65,114,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,102,392,000 after buying an additional 12,452,415 shares during the period. Carmignac Gestion acquired a new stake in shares of Snap during the 4th quarter worth approximately $110,103,000. Contrarius Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Snap during the 4th quarter worth approximately $80,644,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Snap by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 95,317,701 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,613,729,000 after buying an additional 3,503,230 shares during the period. Finally, TB Alternative Assets Ltd. grew its position in shares of Snap by 144.5% during the 1st quarter. TB Alternative Assets Ltd. now owns 5,094,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,488,000 after buying an additional 3,011,400 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.52% of the company’s stock.

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.