Shutterstock (NYSE:SSTK) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE:SSTK) gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $16.05, but opened at $18.00. Shutterstock shares last traded at $16.3660, with a volume of 372,201 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on SSTK. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Shutterstock from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Shutterstock in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Shutterstock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Shutterstock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.00.

Shutterstock Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $18.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.48. The company has a market capitalization of $560.77 million, a PE ratio of 12.20 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Shutterstock (NYSE:SSTK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The business services provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.38). The company had revenue of $220.22 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $252.28 million. Shutterstock had a return on equity of 16.13% and a net margin of 4.60%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Shutterstock, Inc. will post 3.12 EPS for the current year.

Shutterstock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th will be given a $0.36 dividend. This is a boost from Shutterstock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.1%. Shutterstock’s payout ratio is currently 102.33%.

Institutional Trading of Shutterstock

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SSTK. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Shutterstock by 229.7% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 804,655 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,369,000 after purchasing an additional 560,617 shares during the last quarter. Callodine Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Shutterstock in the second quarter valued at about $7,835,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Shutterstock by 109.3% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 626,615 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,674,000 after acquiring an additional 327,203 shares during the period. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in Shutterstock by 72.7% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 547,241 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,410,000 after buying an additional 230,413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new position in Shutterstock during the fourth quarter worth about $3,763,000. 82.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Shutterstock

Shutterstock, Inc (NYSE:SSTK) operates a leading global creative platform that provides royalty-free stock content to businesses, marketing agencies and media outlets. Its primary offerings include high-resolution photographs, vector graphics, illustrations, video footage and music tracks, all available through subscription plans or on-demand licensing. The platform also features customizable design tools and collaborative workspaces that enable customers to create and manage visual content more efficiently.

Founded in 2003 by Jon Oringer, Shutterstock began as an online marketplace offering a modest selection of images and quickly scaled its library to hundreds of millions of assets.