Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Snap (NYSE:SNAP)

Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 136,886 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 47% compared to the typical volume of 93,052 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on SNAP. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $14.00 price objective on shares of Snap in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Snap from $12.00 to $13.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Snap in a report on Friday, October 25th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 target price (up from $12.00) on shares of Snap in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on Snap from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-two have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.91.

Snap Stock Up 6.3 %

SNAP opened at $12.87 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.59 billion, a PE ratio of -22.19 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 4.04 and a quick ratio of 4.04. Snap has a fifty-two week low of $8.29 and a fifty-two week high of $17.90. The business has a 50-day moving average of $11.12 and a 200-day moving average of $12.24.

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

Insider Transactions at Snap

In related news, General Counsel Michael J. O’sullivan sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.89, for a total value of $214,020.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 464,009 shares in the company, valued at $5,517,067.01. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Derek Andersen sold 97,608 shares of Snap stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.29, for a total value of $906,778.32. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,287,970 shares in the company, valued at $21,255,241.30. The trade was a 4.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,406,709 shares of company stock worth $16,662,107.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Snap

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Snap during the 1st quarter worth about $236,000. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Snap by 32.0% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 18,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $214,000 after purchasing an additional 4,517 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Snap by 83.3% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 97,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,623,000 after purchasing an additional 44,405 shares during the period. Curated Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Snap by 200.0% in the second quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC now owns 536,541 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,912,000 after buying an additional 1,073,082 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital boosted its holdings in shares of Snap by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 29,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $476,000 after buying an additional 1,894 shares during the period. 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.