Canaccord Genuity Group Reiterates Hold Rating for Smartsheet (NYSE:SMAR)

Smartsheet (NYSE:SMAR)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $56.50 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $60.00. Canaccord Genuity Group’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 1.88% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Smartsheet from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Smartsheet from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Smartsheet in a research note on Tuesday. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Smartsheet in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $56.50 price objective (up from $55.00) on shares of Smartsheet in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.44.

Smartsheet Trading Up 6.5 %

Smartsheet stock opened at $55.46 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $7.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -89.45 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.35. Smartsheet has a 12-month low of $35.52 and a 12-month high of $55.56.

Smartsheet (NYSE:SMAR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 5th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.15. Smartsheet had a negative net margin of 4.07% and a negative return on equity of 4.29%. The business had revenue of $276.41 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $274.23 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.23) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Smartsheet will post -0.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Smartsheet declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 5th that permits the company to buyback $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 2.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Smartsheet

In other news, COO Stephen Robert Branstetter sold 4,272 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.42, for a total transaction of $189,762.24. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,795 shares in the company, valued at $2,833,773.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Smartsheet news, COO Stephen Robert Branstetter sold 4,272 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.42, for a total transaction of $189,762.24. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,795 shares in the company, valued at $2,833,773.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mark Patrick Mader sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.78, for a total transaction of $1,035,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 588,762 shares in the company, valued at $30,486,096.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 39,429 shares of company stock worth $1,952,525 over the last ninety days. 4.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Smartsheet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smartsheet in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new stake in shares of Smartsheet in the first quarter valued at about $29,000. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Smartsheet in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Smartsheet in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Smartsheet by 37.5% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 894 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

About Smartsheet

Smartsheet, Inc engages in managing and automating collaborative work. Its platform provides solutions that eliminate the obstacles to capturing information, including a familiar and intuitive spreadsheet interface as well as easily customizable forms. The company was founded by W. Eric Browne, Maria Colacurcio, John D.