Short Interest in Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) Drops By 19.0%

Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 62,170,000 shares, a drop of 19.0% from the January 15th total of 76,750,000 shares. Currently, 5.7% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 30,360,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Snap

In other Snap news, CFO Derek Andersen sold 17,789 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.00, for a total transaction of $213,468.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 2,176,017 shares in the company, valued at $26,112,204. This represents a 0.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Rebecca Morrow sold 2,812 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.44, for a total value of $32,169.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 430,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,922,082.88. The trade was a 0.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 443,518 shares of company stock valued at $4,947,981. Company insiders own 22.68% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Snap

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors bought a new stake in Snap during the 4th quarter valued at $422,049,000. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Snap by 38.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 84,137,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $906,161,000 after buying an additional 23,569,522 shares in the last quarter. TB Alternative Assets Ltd. grew its position in shares of Snap by 105.6% in the 3rd quarter. TB Alternative Assets Ltd. now owns 7,981,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,406,000 after buying an additional 4,098,847 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Snap in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,162,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Snap during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,713,000. Institutional investors own 47.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SNAP. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Snap from $14.00 to $14.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Snap in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Snap from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $16.00 target price on shares of Snap in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Snap from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.87.

Snap Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of Snap stock traded down $0.42 on Friday, reaching $10.84. The company had a trading volume of 19,206,127 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,096,188. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $11.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.75. Snap has a 1 year low of $8.29 and a 1 year high of $17.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 3.95 and a quick ratio of 4.04.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.14 by ($0.13). Snap had a negative return on equity of 25.67% and a negative net margin of 13.02%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Snap will post -0.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Snap Company Profile

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.