Investors Buy Large Volume of Snap Call Options (NYSE:SNAP)

Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 117,569 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 43% compared to the typical daily volume of 81,936 call options.

Snap Price Performance

NYSE:SNAP opened at $12.02 on Thursday. Snap has a one year low of $8.29 and a one year high of $17.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 4.04 and a current ratio of 4.04. The stock has a market cap of $20.16 billion, a PE ratio of -20.72 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $11.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.56.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.03. Snap had a negative return on equity of 35.60% and a negative net margin of 18.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.21) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Snap will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Snap

In related news, General Counsel Michael J. O’sullivan sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.31, for a total transaction of $221,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 471,058 shares in the company, valued at $5,798,723.98. The trade was a 3.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joanna Coles sold 6,434 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 54,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $657,132. The trade was a 10.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,451,618 shares of company stock valued at $17,560,157. 22.68% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Snap

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in Snap during the third quarter worth $29,000. Paladin Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Snap during the third quarter worth $30,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Snap by 141.9% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,782 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 1,632 shares during the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new stake in Snap during the second quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in Snap during the third quarter worth $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on SNAP. Roth Mkm reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $14.00 price target on shares of Snap in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Snap from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Snap from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Snap from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 target price (up from $12.00) on shares of Snap in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Snap currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.10.

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.