Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS) Short Interest Down 15.2% in February

Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 21,000,000 shares, a drop of 15.2% from the January 31st total of 24,770,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 11,050,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Pinterest Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PINS traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $34.39. 6,070,520 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,598,898. Pinterest has a 12 month low of $27.00 and a 12 month high of $45.19. The company has a market cap of $23.32 billion, a PE ratio of 12.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $34.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.25.

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by ($0.30). Pinterest had a net margin of 51.07% and a return on equity of 8.10%. On average, analysts anticipate that Pinterest will post 0.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Raymond James raised their target price on Pinterest from $34.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on Pinterest from $36.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Pinterest in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $32.00 price objective (down from $40.00) on shares of Pinterest in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Benchmark upgraded shares of Pinterest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Gokul Rajaram sold 1,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.19, for a total value of $45,068.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 29,086 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,139,880.34. This trade represents a 3.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Andrea Acosta sold 3,667 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.46, for a total transaction of $137,365.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 144,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,399,072.34. This represents a 2.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 7,117 shares of company stock valued at $253,056. 7.11% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pinterest

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PINS. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Pinterest by 104.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 25,432,141 shares of the company’s stock worth $737,533,000 after purchasing an additional 12,986,310 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pinterest by 49.7% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,635,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $395,441,000 after buying an additional 4,527,902 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Pinterest by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,773,652 shares of the company’s stock valued at $413,483,000 after acquiring an additional 156,748 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Pinterest by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,599,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $365,381,000 after acquiring an additional 316,633 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Pinterest during the fourth quarter worth $358,205,000. Institutional investors own 88.81% of the company’s stock.

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.