Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) Stock

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) had its price target increased by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $39.00 to $47.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 19.40% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on PINS. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Pinterest from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $47.00 in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Pinterest in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Pinterest from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Pinterest from $41.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Benchmark upgraded Pinterest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.18.

Pinterest Price Performance

Shares of Pinterest stock traded up $5.78 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $39.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 17,191,941 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,673,725. The stock has a market cap of $26.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 131.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $31.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.55. Pinterest has a one year low of $27.00 and a one year high of $45.19.

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) last announced its 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 6.21% and a return on equity of 8.37%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Pinterest will post 0.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pinterest

In other news, Director Gokul Rajaram sold 1,150 shares of Pinterest stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total value of $34,189.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 32,536 shares in the company, valued at $967,295.28. This trade represents a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Wanjiku Juanita Walcott sold 11,862 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.82, for a total transaction of $365,586.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 246,921 shares in the company, valued at $7,610,105.22. This represents a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 19,157 shares of company stock valued at $589,131. Corporate insiders own 7.11% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pinterest

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Pinterest during the third quarter worth approximately $153,829,000. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Pinterest in the third quarter valued at about $123,006,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its stake in shares of Pinterest by 51.5% in the third quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 8,812,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $285,248,000 after buying an additional 2,996,750 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Pinterest during the fourth quarter worth about $61,261,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Pinterest by 122.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,807,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,515,000 after acquiring an additional 2,093,248 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.