Snap (NYSE:SNAP) Upgraded to "Outperform" by JMP Securities

JMP Securities upgraded shares of Snap (NYSE:SNAP - Free Report) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $17.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on SNAP. Argus upgraded shares of Snap to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Snap from $17.00 to $16.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Snap from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. HSBC downgraded shares of Snap from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and set a $8.00 price objective on shares of Snap in a research note on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-three have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $13.89.

Snap Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE SNAP traded up $0.16 on Wednesday, reaching $10.14. The company had a trading volume of 32,380,703 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,916,525. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.08 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 3.98 and a current ratio of 3.98. Snap has a 1-year low of $8.29 and a 1-year high of $17.90. The company's fifty day moving average is $9.90 and its 200-day moving average is $12.69.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.02. Snap had a negative net margin of 23.49% and a negative return on equity of 42.84%. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Snap will post -0.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Snap

In related news, CAO Rebecca Morrow sold 8,923 shares of Snap stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.10, for a total value of $81,199.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 472,405 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,298,885.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Snap news, General Counsel Michael J. O'sullivan sold 18,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.81, for a total value of $194,580.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 489,058 shares in the company, valued at $5,286,716.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Rebecca Morrow sold 8,923 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.10, for a total transaction of $81,199.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 472,405 shares in the company, valued at $4,298,885.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,510,352 shares of company stock valued at $13,446,353 over the last three months. 22.68% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Snap

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SNAP. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Snap by 587.3% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 14,667,597 shares of the company's stock valued at $243,629,000 after buying an additional 12,533,653 shares in the last quarter. TB Alternative Assets Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Snap by 105.6% during the third quarter. TB Alternative Assets Ltd. now owns 7,981,847 shares of the company's stock worth $85,406,000 after purchasing an additional 4,098,847 shares during the period. Discovery Capital Management LLC CT acquired a new position in shares of Snap during the second quarter worth $22,591,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Snap by 74.0% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,824,354 shares of the company's stock worth $46,913,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201,565 shares during the period. Finally, Curated Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Snap by 200.0% during the second quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC now owns 536,541 shares of the company's stock worth $8,912,000 after purchasing an additional 1,073,082 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.