Snap (NYSE:SNAP) Raised to “Buy” at HSBC

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) was upgraded by equities research analysts at HSBC from a “reduce” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Snap from $12.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Snap from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Snap from $13.00 to $11.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Snap from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $10.00 to $19.00 in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Snap from $22.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Snap presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.95.

Snap Stock Performance

Shares of SNAP stock opened at $11.40 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $18.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.73 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a 50 day moving average of $11.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.79. Snap has a 52 week low of $7.86 and a 52 week 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.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.10. Snap had a negative return on equity of 47.47% and a negative net margin of 28.71%. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.12 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Snap will post -0.58 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Snap

In other Snap news, CFO Derek Andersen sold 96,953 shares of Snap stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.99, for a total value of $1,065,513.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,534,689 shares in the company, valued at $27,856,232.11. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, General Counsel Michael J. O’sullivan sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.16, for a total transaction of $210,080.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 461,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,449,840.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Derek Andersen sold 96,953 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.99, for a total value of $1,065,513.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,534,689 shares in the company, valued at $27,856,232.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 470,482 shares of company stock valued at $5,284,091. 22.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Snap

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SNAP. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Snap by 2,580.4% in the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 1,445 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,708 shares during the period. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Snap during the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Snap in the fourth quarter valued at about $73,000. Finally, Westpac Banking Corp increased its stake in shares of Snap by 108.7% in the fourth quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 4,812 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 2,506 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.