Smartsheet (NYSE:SMAR) Sees Strong Trading Volume After Analyst Upgrade

Smartsheet Inc (NYSE:SMAR) saw unusually-high trading volume on Wednesday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $51.00 to $56.50. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the stock. Approximately 3,134,250 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 86% from the previous session’s volume of 1,687,042 shares.The stock last traded at $55.44 and had previously closed at $55.46.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Smartsheet from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $56.50 target price (up from $55.00) on shares of Smartsheet in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $56.50 target price (down from $60.00) on shares of Smartsheet in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Smartsheet from $55.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Smartsheet from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Stephen Robert Branstetter sold 4,272 shares of Smartsheet stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.42, for a total transaction of $189,762.24. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 63,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,833,773.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 value of $189,762.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 63,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,833,773.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jolene Lau Marshall sold 3,994 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.11, for a total transaction of $172,181.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 16,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $714,203.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 39,429 shares of company stock valued at $1,952,525 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Smartsheet

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SMAR. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Smartsheet by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 14,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $670,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its position in shares of Smartsheet by 59.9% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 181,234 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,667,000 after buying an additional 67,878 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC grew its position in shares of Smartsheet by 21.5% during the 4th quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 6,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,000 after buying an additional 1,184 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Smartsheet by 34.0% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 524,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,069,000 after buying an additional 133,153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in Smartsheet by 69.2% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 132,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,335,000 after purchasing an additional 54,164 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.01% of the company’s stock.

Smartsheet Stock Performance

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -89.45 and a beta of 0.74.

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

Smartsheet declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 5th that permits the company to buyback $150.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 2.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Smartsheet Company Profile

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.