HubSpot (HUBS) Upgraded to Buy by Zacks Investment Research

Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of HubSpot (NYSE:HUBS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Monday. Zacks Investment Research currently has $170.00 price objective on the software maker’s stock.

According to Zacks, “HubSpot provides inbound marketing and sales application over the cloud. The company is benefitting from an expanding international footprint. Robust performance of Hubspot One and Hubspot CRM tools is a positive. We believe portfolio expansion and collaborations bode well. HubSpot’s product portfolio is gaining from integration with Shopify & Facebook, which leverage AI. Moreover, integration of its various in house offerings is likely to improve subscription levels going ahead, consequently bolstering the top line. The company also raised its fiscal 2018 guidance. Adoption of Google cloud bodes well. Notably, shares of the company outperformed the industry in the past year. However, adverse foreign exchange rate volatility impact and mounting operating losses are headwinds. Notably, estimates have remained stable lately ahead of company’s Q4 earnings release.”

HUBS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on HubSpot to $160.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on HubSpot from $138.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Thursday, November 8th. Oppenheimer reissued a market perform rating on shares of HubSpot in a report on Thursday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on HubSpot from $141.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, November 8th. Finally, CIBC restated a market perform rating on shares of HubSpot in a research note on Thursday, January 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. The company has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $152.82.

Shares of HubSpot stock opened at $158.31 on Monday. HubSpot has a 1 year low of $85.65 and a 1 year high of $162.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 3.15 and a quick ratio of 3.15. The firm has a market cap of $5.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -155.21 and a beta of 1.80.

HubSpot (NYSE:HUBS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 7th. The software maker reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.05 by ($0.37). The business had revenue of $131.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $126.65 million. HubSpot had a negative net margin of 13.43% and a negative return on equity of 19.13%. The business’s revenue was up 34.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.03 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that HubSpot will post -0.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other news, insider Dharmesh Shah sold 27,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.50, for a total value of $3,388,500.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Ronald S. Gill sold 4,140 shares of HubSpot stock in a transaction on Monday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.54, for a total transaction of $548,715.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,214 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,414,083.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 72,376 shares of company stock worth $9,180,482 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 9.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of HubSpot by 164.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,900,059 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $286,814,000 after buying an additional 1,181,611 shares in the last quarter. TIAA CREF Investment Management LLC grew its position in HubSpot by 358.0% during the third quarter. TIAA CREF Investment Management LLC now owns 362,839 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $54,771,000 after purchasing an additional 283,609 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc grew its position in HubSpot by 3.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc now owns 3,171,764 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $478,778,000 after acquiring an additional 95,762 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in HubSpot by 3.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,171,764 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $478,778,000 after acquiring an additional 95,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Investors Inc. PA lifted its stake in shares of HubSpot by 307.1% in the third quarter. Federated Investors Inc. PA now owns 115,128 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $17,379,000 after buying an additional 86,846 shares during the last quarter. 93.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

HubSpot Company Profile

HubSpot, Inc provides a cloud-based marketing and sales software platform for businesses in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. Its software platform includes integrated applications, such as social media, search engine optimization, blogging, Website content management, marketing automation, email, sales productivity, CRM, analytics, and reporting.