Snap Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:SNAP)

Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 195,165 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 50% compared to the typical volume of 129,796 call options.

Snap Price Performance

Shares of Snap stock opened at $11.63 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.39, a quick ratio of 4.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $11.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.71. Snap has a 52 week low of $7.86 and a 52 week high of $17.90. The stock has a market cap of $19.20 billion, a PE ratio of -14.01 and a beta of 1.13.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.16) by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.39 billion. Snap had a negative return on equity of 47.47% and a negative net margin of 28.71%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Snap will post -0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on SNAP. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Snap from $22.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Snap from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Snap from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Snap from $9.50 to $12.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Snap from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $10.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Snap news, SVP Eric Young sold 120,472 shares of Snap stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.13, for a total value of $1,340,853.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,540,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,409,682.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Snap news, General Counsel Michael J. O’sullivan sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.16, for a total value of $210,080.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 461,005 shares in the company, valued at $7,449,840.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Eric Young sold 120,472 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.13, for a total value of $1,340,853.36. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,540,852 shares in the company, valued at $39,409,682.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 470,482 shares of company stock valued at $5,284,091 over the last 90 days. 22.68% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Snap

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SNAP. NBC Securities Inc. increased its stake in Snap by 2,580.4% in the 4th quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,445 shares in the last quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Snap during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Snap by 75.0% during the 3rd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Snap by 161.6% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,708 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Snap by 365.3% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 3,094 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.52% of the company’s stock.

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.