Snap (NYSE:SNAP) Coverage Initiated at Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Snap (NYSE:SNAP - Free Report) in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $8.00 price target on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on SNAP. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Snap from $17.00 to $14.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Benchmark reissued a hold rating on shares of Snap in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Snap from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Snap from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and increased their price target for the stock from $12.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Snap in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a peer perform rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-two have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $13.87.

Snap Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SNAP traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $8.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,402,896 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,401,914. The company has a quick ratio of 3.98, a current ratio of 3.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $12.27 and a 200 day moving average of $12.96. Snap has a twelve month low of $8.28 and a twelve month high of $17.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.56 billion, a PE ratio of -10.85 and a beta of 1.00.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.02. Snap had a negative return on equity of 42.84% and a negative net margin of 23.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Snap will post -0.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Robert C. Murphy sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.69, for a total transaction of $8,690,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 58,553,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $508,832,634.97. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CTO Robert C. Murphy sold 1,000,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.69, for a total transaction of $8,690,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 58,553,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $508,832,634.97. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Michael J. O'sullivan sold 18,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.56, for a total transaction of $298,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 481,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,980,396.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,356,370 shares of company stock valued at $12,151,603 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 22.68% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Snap

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Snap by 587.3% during 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. SRS Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Snap by 23.6% during the 4th quarter. SRS Investment Management LLC now owns 65,114,732 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,102,392,000 after acquiring an additional 12,452,415 shares during the period. Carmignac Gestion acquired a new position in Snap in the 4th quarter valued at about $110,103,000. Contrarius Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in Snap in the 4th quarter valued at about $80,644,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Snap by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 95,317,701 shares of the company's stock worth $1,613,729,000 after purchasing an additional 3,503,230 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.