Snap (NYSE:SNAP) Trading Up 6% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) rose 6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $12.08 and last traded at $11.92. Approximately 3,217,824 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 65% from the average daily volume of 9,269,524 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.24.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on SNAP shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Snap from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Snap in a report on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Snap from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of Snap from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of Snap from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-two have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Snap has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.10.

Snap Stock Up 4.5 %

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 firm has a market cap of $19.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.26 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $11.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.68.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.36 billion. Snap had a negative return on equity of 35.60% and a negative net margin of 18.49%. Snap’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.21) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Snap Inc. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Joanna Coles sold 6,434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.00, for a total value of $77,208.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 54,761 shares in the company, valued at $657,132. This represents a 10.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Eric Young sold 112,020 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.55, for a total value of $1,181,811.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 2,791,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,445,556.40. The trade was a 3.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,451,618 shares of company stock worth $17,560,157 over the last three months. 22.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Snap

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in Snap in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in Snap during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in Snap in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Paladin Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Snap during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Snap by 141.9% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,632 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.52% of the company’s stock.

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.