Renaissance Technologies LLC Has $8.67 Million Stock Holdings in Snap Inc. $SNAP

Renaissance Technologies LLC trimmed its stake in Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) by 63.2% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,885,600 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,231,800 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Snap were worth $8,674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SNAP. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in Snap by 13.3% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 40,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $352,000 after acquiring an additional 4,754 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Snap in the 2nd quarter valued at about $136,000. Investment Management Corp of Ontario grew its position in shares of Snap by 104.0% in the 2nd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 61,513 shares of the company’s stock valued at $535,000 after acquiring an additional 31,357 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new position in shares of Snap during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,675,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Snap by 52.0% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 89,337 shares of the company’s stock worth $776,000 after purchasing an additional 30,561 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Snap from $7.00 to $5.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Snap from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 26th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Snap from $7.00 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $6.40 price objective on shares of Snap in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Snap in a research note on Friday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $7.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at Snap

In other Snap news, CTO Robert C. Murphy sold 2,000,000 shares of Snap stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.44, for a total value of $10,880,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 47,012,324 shares in the company, valued at $255,747,042.56. The trade was a 4.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Douglas Hott sold 124,209 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.60, for a total transaction of $695,570.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,571,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,398,434.40. This represents a 4.61% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 2,868,059 shares of company stock valued at $15,855,631 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 22.68% of the company’s stock.

Snap Price Performance

Snap stock opened at $4.71 on Monday. Snap Inc. has a 12 month low of $3.81 and a 12 month high of $9.77. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $4.97 and its 200-day moving average is $5.36. The company has a current ratio of 3.53, a quick ratio of 3.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The company has a market capitalization of $7.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.65 and a beta of 1.05.

Snap (NYSE:SNAP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.53 billion. Snap had a negative net margin of 6.72% and a negative return on equity of 18.92%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.08) earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Snap Inc. will post -0.07 EPS for the current year.

About Snap

Snap Inc is a camera and social media company best known for developing and operating Snapchat, a multimedia messaging application that allows users to send photos, videos and messages that disappear after being viewed. In addition to its core messaging service, Snap offers a suite of augmented reality (AR) tools, including custom Lenses and Filters, that enable users and third-party developers to create interactive and immersive experiences. The company also provides advertising solutions that allow brands to engage audiences through Snap Ads, Sponsored Lenses and Discover content on the platform.

Founded in 2011 by Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, Snap has continually focused on innovation in camera technology and AR.