StockNews.com Upgrades Shutterstock (NYSE:SSTK) to Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Shutterstock (NYSE:SSTK) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Wednesday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Shutterstock from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Shutterstock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th.

Shutterstock Stock Down 2.5 %

SSTK stock opened at $33.87 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $37.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.07. The stock has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.13 and a beta of 1.10. Shutterstock has a fifty-two week low of $32.72 and a fifty-two week high of $54.40.

Shutterstock (NYSE:SSTK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.01 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $220.05 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $213.44 million. Shutterstock had a return on equity of 20.45% and a net margin of 5.33%. Shutterstock’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Shutterstock will post 3.22 EPS for the current year.

Shutterstock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 29th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 29th. Shutterstock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.51%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Shutterstock by 1.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,926,166 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $134,048,000 after purchasing an additional 47,929 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Shutterstock by 13.7% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,793,925 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $69,425,000 after purchasing an additional 215,539 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Shutterstock by 30.9% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,793,785 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $82,173,000 after purchasing an additional 422,942 shares during the period. Trigran Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Shutterstock by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Trigran Investments Inc. now owns 1,214,726 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $58,647,000 after purchasing an additional 163,268 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Shutterstock by 22.8% during the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,085,539 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $42,010,000 after acquiring an additional 201,391 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.79% of the company’s stock.

About Shutterstock

Shutterstock, Inc provides platform to connect brands and businesses to high quality content in North America, Europe, and internationally. The company offers image services consisting of photographs, vectors, and illustrations, which is used in visual communications, such as websites, digital and print marketing materials, corporate communications, books, publications, and others; footage services, including video clips, filmed by industry experts and cinema grade video effects in HD and 4K formats that are integrated into websites, social media, marketing campaigns, and cinematic productions; and music services comprising music tracks and sound effects, which are used to complement images and footage.