Virtu Financial LLC Buys New Position in Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS)

Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 19,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $554,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PINS. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Pinterest by 7.4% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,165 shares of the company’s stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 635 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Pinterest by 1,109.4% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 9,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 8,986 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank lifted its position in Pinterest by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 11,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $384,000 after buying an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Pinterest by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 844,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,326,000 after buying an additional 32,539 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Pinterest by 63.4% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 52,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,695,000 after buying an additional 20,310 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.81% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pinterest

In related news, Director Benjamin Silbermann sold 102,083 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.16, for a total transaction of $3,180,906.28. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $195,497.84. This represents a 94.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gokul Rajaram sold 1,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.43, for a total transaction of $34,994.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 30,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $920,081.48. This represents a 3.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 237,417 shares of company stock valued at $7,803,946. Corporate insiders own 7.11% of the company’s stock.

Pinterest Trading Up 1.9 %

PINS opened at $34.68 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $23.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.35. Pinterest, Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.00 and a 12-month high of $45.19.

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 51.07%. On average, analysts predict that Pinterest, Inc. will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on PINS. Benchmark raised shares of Pinterest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Pinterest from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Pinterest in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price objective on the stock. Guggenheim raised Pinterest from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $39.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, Roth Capital set a $32.00 price target on Pinterest in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.33.

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.