Morgan Stanley Cuts Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) Price Target to $28.00

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS - Free Report) had its target price reduced by Morgan Stanley from $42.00 to $28.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Benchmark upgraded Pinterest from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Pinterest from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Pinterest from $42.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Pinterest in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Pinterest from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $41.55.

Pinterest Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of Pinterest stock traded up $0.46 on Thursday, hitting $24.67. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,494,431 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,507,858. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $31.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.84. Pinterest has a 52-week low of $23.68 and a 52-week high of $45.19. The company has a market capitalization of $16.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.99.

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.30). Pinterest had a net margin of 51.07% and a return on equity of 8.10%. As a group, analysts expect that Pinterest will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pinterest news, Director Gokul Rajaram sold 1,150 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.19, for a total transaction of $45,068.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 29,086 shares in the company, valued at $1,139,880.34. This represents a 3.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Andrea Acosta sold 3,667 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.46, for a total transaction of $137,365.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 144,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,399,072.34. This trade represents a 2.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 452,686 shares of company stock worth $14,797,342 in the last quarter. 7.11% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Pinterest by 104.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 25,432,141 shares of the company's stock worth $737,533,000 after purchasing an additional 12,986,310 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Pinterest by 49.7% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,635,800 shares of the company's stock valued at $395,441,000 after buying an additional 4,527,902 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Pinterest by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,599,356 shares of the company's stock worth $365,381,000 after acquiring an additional 316,633 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Pinterest in the fourth quarter worth about $358,205,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Pinterest by 134.1% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 10,701,783 shares of the company's stock valued at $310,352,000 after acquiring an additional 6,129,985 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.81% of the company's stock.

About Pinterest

Pinterest, Inc operates as a visual search and discovery platform in the United States and internationally. Its platform allows people to find ideas, such as recipes, home and style inspiration, and others; and to search, save, and shop the ideas. The company was formerly known as Cold Brew Labs Inc and changed its name to Pinterest, Inc in April 2012.