Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) Upgraded at Benchmark

Benchmark upgraded shares of Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Friday, MarketBeat reports. Benchmark currently has $55.00 price target on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on PINS. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Pinterest from $41.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Pinterest from $39.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded Pinterest from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on shares of Pinterest from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target on shares of Pinterest in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.86.

Pinterest Stock Performance

NYSE PINS opened at $40.02 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $27.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.06. Pinterest has a fifty-two week low of $27.00 and a fifty-two week high of $45.19. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.50.

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.30). Pinterest had a net margin of 51.07% and a return on equity of 9.20%. Sell-side analysts predict that Pinterest will post 0.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Pinterest

In other Pinterest news, Director Gokul Rajaram sold 1,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total value of $34,189.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 32,536 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $967,295.28. The trade was a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Wanjiku Juanita Walcott sold 11,862 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.82, for a total transaction of $365,586.84. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 246,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,610,105.22. This represents a 4.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 19,157 shares of company stock valued at $589,131. Corporate insiders own 7.11% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pinterest

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PINS. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Pinterest in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pinterest by 63.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 415 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pinterest in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Pinterest by 91.1% during the 3rd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 1,154 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares during the period. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC grew its position in Pinterest by 8,261.1% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 1,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 1,487 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.81% of the company’s stock.

About Pinterest

Pinterest, Inc operates as a visual search and discovery platform in the United States and internationally. Its platform allows people to find ideas, such as recipes, home and style inspiration, and others; and to search, save, and shop the ideas. The company was formerly known as Cold Brew Labs Inc and changed its name to Pinterest, Inc in April 2012.