West Tower Group LLC Grows Position in Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP)

West Tower Group LLC raised its position in shares of Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) by 30.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,000 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the quarter. West Tower Group LLC’s holdings in Snap were worth $140,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Snap by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 31,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 901 shares during the period. HCR Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Snap by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. HCR Wealth Advisors now owns 25,016 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,000 after purchasing an additional 934 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Snap by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 35,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $384,000 after purchasing an additional 1,055 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Snap by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 19,352 shares of the company’s stock worth $207,000 after acquiring an additional 1,255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Snap by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 142,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,310 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Robert C. Murphy sold 1,000,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.04, for a total value of $9,040,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 55,818,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $504,599,673.92. This represents a 1.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Rebecca Morrow sold 8,837 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.84, for a total value of $95,793.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 429,892 shares in the company, valued at $4,660,029.28. The trade was a 2.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,350,523 shares of company stock valued at $12,698,797. Company insiders own 22.68% of the company’s stock.

Snap Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE:SNAP opened at $8.73 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $10.56 and its 200 day moving average is $10.80. Snap Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.29 and a 1 year high of $17.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.80 billion, a P/E ratio of -20.77 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 3.95 and a quick ratio of 3.95.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SNAP. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $16.00 price target on shares of Snap in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Snap in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $16.00 price target (down from $18.00) on shares of Snap in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $640.00 price target on shares of Snap in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered Snap from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Snap has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.87.

Snap 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.