Needham & Company LLC Reiterates Hold Rating for Smartsheet (NYSE:SMAR)

Smartsheet (NYSE:SMAR)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on SMAR. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $56.50 target price (down from $60.00) on shares of Smartsheet in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $56.50 price objective (down previously from $63.00) on shares of Smartsheet in a research report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $56.50 price target (down from $60.00) on shares of Smartsheet in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of Smartsheet in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Smartsheet from $50.00 to $56.50 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.82.

Smartsheet Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SMAR traded down $0.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $56.09. The company had a trading volume of 1,038,313 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,199,131. The stock has a market cap of $7.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -180.93 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.42. Smartsheet has a one year low of $35.52 and a one year high of $56.55.

Smartsheet (NYSE:SMAR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 5th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.15. Smartsheet had a negative net margin of 4.07% and a negative return on equity of 4.29%. The business had revenue of $276.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $274.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.23) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Smartsheet will post -0.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Smartsheet declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 5th that permits the company to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 2.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Smartsheet

In other news, COO Stephen Robert Branstetter sold 1,847 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.00, for a total transaction of $97,891.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 64,215 shares in the company, valued at $3,403,395. The trade was a 2.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jolene Lau Marshall sold 3,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.59, for a total value of $180,656.89. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $684,432.11. This trade represents a 20.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 42,194 shares of company stock valued at $2,248,098 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 4.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMAR. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Smartsheet by 188.0% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,349,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,844,000 after buying an additional 881,004 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in shares of Smartsheet by 2,767.1% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 823,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,589,000 after purchasing an additional 794,779 shares during the period. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Smartsheet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,029,000. Engaged Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Smartsheet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,600,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Smartsheet by 40.9% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,835,994 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,931,000 after purchasing an additional 533,278 shares during the period. 90.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Smartsheet

Smartsheet, Inc engages in managing and automating collaborative work. Its platform provides solutions that eliminate the obstacles to capturing information, including a familiar and intuitive spreadsheet interface as well as easily customizable forms. The company was founded by W. Eric Browne, Maria Colacurcio, John D.