LPL Financial LLC Grows Stake in Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS)

LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 438,427 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,164 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Pinterest were worth $12,714,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pinterest in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pinterest by 63.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its position in shares of Pinterest by 51.5% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Pinterest by 17,692.3% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 2,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Pinterest by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. 88.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Pinterest Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Pinterest stock opened at $31.45 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $34.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.43. The firm has a market cap of $21.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.02. Pinterest, Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.00 and a 12 month high of $45.19.

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.30). Pinterest had a net margin of 51.07% and a return on equity of 8.10%. Analysts forecast that Pinterest, Inc. will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pinterest news, Director Gokul Rajaram sold 1,150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.19, for a total transaction of $45,068.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 29,086 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,139,880.34. This represents a 3.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Andrea Acosta sold 3,667 shares of Pinterest stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.46, for a total transaction of $137,365.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 144,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,399,072.34. The trade was a 2.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 351,753 shares of company stock valued at $11,640,201 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 7.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Pinterest from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $34.00 to $47.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Pinterest from $34.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating 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 objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price (up from $45.00) on shares of Pinterest in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Pinterest from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.17.

Pinterest Company Profile

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.