Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Snap Call Options (NYSE:SNAP)

Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 188,211 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 87% compared to the average daily volume of 100,596 call options.

Snap Trading Down 11.0%

Snap stock opened at $4.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.80 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $5.54 and a 200-day moving average of $7.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 3.56 and a quick ratio of 3.56. Snap has a one year low of $3.90 and a one year high of $10.41.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.12). Snap had a negative net margin of 7.76% and a negative return on equity of 20.72%. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.01 EPS. Snap’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Snap will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SNAP has been the topic of several recent research reports. B. Riley Financial raised Snap from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $10.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $6.50 price objective on shares of Snap in a report on Thursday, February 5th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Snap from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $8.00 target price on shares of Snap in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Snap from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, twenty have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $8.17.

Insider Activity at Snap

In related news, CTO Robert C. Murphy sold 1,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.36, for a total value of $5,360,000.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 49,313,775 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $264,321,834. The trade was a 1.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Derek Andersen sold 92,956 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.59, for a total transaction of $426,668.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 3,799,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,440,443.99. The trade was a 2.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 2,570,641 shares of company stock worth $13,436,343 over the last ninety days. 22.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SNAP. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Snap by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 101,251,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $817,100,000 after purchasing an additional 641,271 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Snap by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 88,452,006 shares of the company’s stock valued at $713,808,000 after buying an additional 1,179,543 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Snap by 0.3% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,780,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $291,285,000 after buying an additional 95,989 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in Snap during the third quarter worth $176,697,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Snap by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,525,119 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,711,000 after buying an additional 469,795 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.52% of the company’s stock.

About Snap

Snap Inc is a camera and social media company best known for developing and operating Snapchat, a multimedia messaging application that allows users to send photos, videos and messages that disappear after being viewed. In addition to its core messaging service, Snap offers a suite of augmented reality (AR) tools, including custom Lenses and Filters, that enable users and third-party developers to create interactive and immersive experiences. The company also provides advertising solutions that allow brands to engage audiences through Snap Ads, Sponsored Lenses and Discover content on the platform.

Founded in 2011 by Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, Snap has continually focused on innovation in camera technology and AR.