Magnetar Financial LLC Acquires Shares of 120,254 Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP)

Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 120,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,295,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SNAP. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Snap by 141.9% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 1,632 shares during the last quarter. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new position in shares of Snap in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Snap in the third quarter valued at about $41,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Snap by 128.0% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,370 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 2,453 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych bought a new position in shares of Snap in the fourth quarter valued at about $54,000. 47.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Snap Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE SNAP opened at $9.24 on Friday. Snap Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.29 and a 52 week high of $17.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.99 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 3.95 and a current ratio of 3.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $10.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.77.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by ($0.13). Snap had a negative return on equity of 25.67% and a negative net margin of 13.02%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Snap Inc. will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Snap news, General Counsel Michael J. O’sullivan sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.49, for a total value of $206,820.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 480,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,520,922.02. This represents a 3.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Robert C. Murphy sold 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.04, for a total value of $9,040,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 55,818,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $504,599,673.92. This represents a 1.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,350,523 shares of company stock valued at $12,698,797. 22.68% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SNAP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $16.00 price target (down from $18.00) on shares of Snap in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Citizens Jmp lowered Snap from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Snap from $14.00 to $14.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Snap from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $15.00 to $11.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Snap from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.87.

About Snap

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.