Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys New Stake in Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 297,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,216,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Snap by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,601,172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,095,000 after buying an additional 389,812 shares in the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC purchased a new position in shares of Snap during the 4th quarter worth $289,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Snap by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,538,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,565,000 after purchasing an additional 29,526 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Snap by 3.1% during 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. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of Snap by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 16,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $177,000 after purchasing an additional 1,894 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.52% of the company’s stock.

Snap Stock Up 22.7 %

Shares of Snap stock opened at $8.87 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $9.62 and a 200-day moving average of $10.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 3.95 and a quick ratio of 3.95. The company has a market capitalization of $15.05 billion, a PE ratio of -21.13 and a beta of 0.92. Snap Inc. has a 1-year low of $7.08 and a 1-year high of $17.33.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, equities analysts forecast that Snap Inc. will post -0.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Snap

In other Snap news, General Counsel Michael J. O’sullivan sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.49, for a total value of $206,820.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 480,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,520,922.02. This trade represents a 3.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Rebecca Morrow sold 8,837 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.84, for a total transaction of $95,793.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 429,892 shares in the company, valued at $4,660,029.28. This represents a 2.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,356,523 shares of company stock valued at $12,710,077. Insiders own 22.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SNAP. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $16.00 price target (down previously from $18.00) on shares of Snap in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Snap in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Snap from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on Snap from $14.50 to $10.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-four have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.58.

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.