Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Snap (NYSE:SNAP)

Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 117,569 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 43% compared to the typical daily volume of 81,936 call options.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Eric Young sold 112,020 shares of Snap stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.55, for a total value of $1,181,811.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 2,791,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,445,556.40. This trade represents a 3.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Derek Andersen sold 94,164 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.44, for a total value of $1,077,236.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,193,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,097,140.64. This trade represents a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,451,618 shares of company stock valued at $17,560,157. 22.68% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Snap

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SNAP. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Snap by 587.3% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 14,667,597 shares of the company’s stock worth $243,629,000 after buying an additional 12,533,653 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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. TB Alternative Assets Ltd. lifted its holdings in Snap by 105.6% during the third quarter. TB Alternative Assets Ltd. now owns 7,981,847 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,406,000 after purchasing an additional 4,098,847 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Snap by 62.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,211,360 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,462,000 after purchasing an additional 2,386,519 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Snap by 49.6% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,910,459 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,842,000 after purchasing an additional 1,297,348 shares in the last quarter. 47.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SNAP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $12.11 price objective on shares of Snap in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Snap from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Snap from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 target price on shares of Snap in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price target (up previously from $12.00) on shares of Snap in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-two have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.10.

Snap Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:SNAP opened at $12.56 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $21.07 billion, a PE ratio of -21.65 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 4.04, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.56. Snap has a 12 month low of $8.29 and a 12 month high of $17.75.

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

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.