HubSpot (NYSE:HUBS) Downgraded by Morgan Stanley to “Equal Weight”

Morgan Stanley lowered shares of HubSpot (NYSE:HUBS) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $229.00 price target on the software maker’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded HubSpot from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $268.00 to $240.00 in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Zacks Research cut shares of HubSpot from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of HubSpot from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $381.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of HubSpot in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Stephens raised their target price on shares of HubSpot from $251.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, HubSpot currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $259.48.

HubSpot Stock Down 5.1%

Shares of HubSpot stock opened at $205.65 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $10.26 billion, a PE ratio of 49.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.14. HubSpot has a 12-month low of $169.63 and a 12-month high of $409.31. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $233.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $230.40.

HubSpot (NYSE:HUBS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 4th. The software maker reported $3.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by $0.54. The firm had revenue of $947.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $925.50 million. HubSpot had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 5.95%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.66 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that HubSpot will post 4.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at HubSpot

In related news, Director Brian Halligan sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.57, for a total value of $2,036,345.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 59,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,254,415. This represents a 12.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Erika Fisher sold 702 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.72, for a total value of $159,859.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 12,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,921,419.88. The trade was a 5.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 26,202 shares of company stock worth $6,149,894 over the last ninety days. 3.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of HubSpot

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in HubSpot by 334.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 12,501 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,563,000 after acquiring an additional 9,622 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board bought a new stake in HubSpot during the third quarter worth about $2,152,000. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its holdings in HubSpot by 20.7% in the third quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 2,983 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $611,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new stake in HubSpot in the third quarter worth about $524,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in HubSpot by 395.6% in the third quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 33,742 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $6,916,000 after purchasing an additional 26,933 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More HubSpot News

Here are the key news stories impacting HubSpot this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 results topped expectations: adjusted EPS was $3.81 versus a roughly $3.27 consensus, while revenue of $947.6 million exceeded estimates and grew 17.1% year over year. HubSpot Q3 earnings report
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst views remained mixed: RBC kept an “outperform” rating and Truist maintained “buy,” though both lowered their price targets. UBS and JPMorgan also retained neutral ratings with lower targets.
• Negative Sentiment: Q4 revenue guidance fell short of market expectations, overshadowing the quarterly beat. Coverage also pointed to a bumpy transition toward outcome-based AI offerings, raising concerns about near-term growth. Q4 guidance report HubSpot AI transition outlook
• Negative Sentiment: Several firms cut targets or ratings after the results. Cantor Fitzgerald moved to “underweight” and lowered its target to $170; Piper Sandler cut its target to $200, while BTIG, Morgan Stanley, and KeyCorp also downgraded the stock. Analyst downgrades report

HubSpot Company Profile

HubSpot, Inc is a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) platform provider serving businesses that want to attract, engage and retain customers. Its platform brings together tools for marketing, sales, customer service, content management, operations and commerce, helping organizations manage customer interactions across the customer lifecycle.

The company’s offerings include marketing automation, email marketing, lead generation, website and content management, sales pipeline and engagement tools, customer support and help-desk capabilities, reporting and analytics, and payment and commerce features.