AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Trading Up 4.4% After Analyst Upgrade

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)’s stock price was up 4.4% during trading on Tuesday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from $270.00 to $400.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. AppLovin traded as high as $334.74 and last traded at $333.76. Approximately 677,643 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 4,450,122 shares. The stock had previously closed at $319.59.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. BTIG Research raised their target price on AppLovin from $202.00 to $291.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of AppLovin from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $280.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Daiwa America upgraded shares of AppLovin from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Benchmark reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $66.00 price target on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $260.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AppLovin presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $265.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Craig Scott Billings sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.94, for a total transaction of $5,740,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $952,673.78. This represents a 85.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Dawson Alyssa Harvey sold 1,500 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.90, for a total value of $131,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,247 shares in the company, valued at $900,711.30. This represents a 12.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 854,065 shares of company stock valued at $233,072,408 over the last three months. 14.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC increased its holdings in AppLovin by 622.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,893,237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,030,462,000 after buying an additional 6,801,138 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new position in AppLovin in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $290,655,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in AppLovin by 977.2% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,496,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,522,000 after purchasing an additional 1,357,400 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in AppLovin by 10.5% during the third quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 10,820,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,382,307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,029,009 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in AppLovin by 31.3% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,350,802 shares of the company’s stock worth $306,897,000 after purchasing an additional 560,560 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.85% of the company’s stock.

AppLovin Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $110.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 99.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $189.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $121.08.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.13 billion. AppLovin had a net margin of 26.85% and a return on equity of 122.24%. The firm’s revenue was up 38.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.30 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AppLovin Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AppLovin Company Profile

AppLovin Corporation engages in building a software-based platform for advertisers to enhance the marketing and monetization of their content in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Software Platform and Apps. The company's software solutions include AppDiscovery, a marketing software solution, which matches advertiser demand with publisher supply through auctions; MAX, an in-app bidding software that optimizes the value of a publisher's advertising inventory by running a real-time competitive auction; Adjust, a measurement and analytics marketing platform that provides marketers with the visibility, insights, and tools needed to grow their apps from early stage to maturity; and Wurl, a connected TV platform, which distributes streaming video for content companies and provides advertising and publishing solutions through its AdPool, ContentDiscovery, and Global FAST Pass products.