Snap Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:SNAP)

Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 117,569 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 43% compared to the average daily volume of 81,936 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SNAP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Roth Mkm reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $14.00 price objective on shares of Snap in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $14.00 price objective on shares of Snap in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Snap from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Snap from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $16.00 target price on shares of Snap in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-two have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.10.

Snap Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:SNAP traded down $0.01 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $12.56. 27,527,873 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,898,426. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $11.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.65 and a beta of 0.98. Snap has a 12-month low of $8.29 and a 12-month high of $17.75.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.36 billion. Snap had a negative net margin of 18.49% and a negative return on equity of 35.60%. Snap’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.21) earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Snap will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Snap news, General Counsel Michael J. O’sullivan sold 18,000 shares of Snap stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.84, for a total transaction of $195,120.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 498,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,403,718.32. The trade was a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Joanna Coles sold 6,434 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.00, for a total transaction of $77,208.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 54,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $657,132. This trade represents a 10.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,451,618 shares of company stock worth $17,560,157 over the last three months. Insiders own 22.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SNAP. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Snap during the fourth quarter worth about $437,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in Snap by 37.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 82,143 shares of the company’s stock valued at $938,000 after acquiring an additional 22,328 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Snap by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,697,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,742,000 after acquiring an additional 575,324 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new position in shares of Snap in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $13,032,000. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Snap by 6.8% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 25,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.52% of the company’s stock.

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.