AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Trading Up 1.9% – Should You Buy?

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) rose 1.9% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $354.00 and last traded at $348.99. Approximately 1,274,968 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 67% from the average daily volume of 3,883,924 shares. The stock had previously closed at $342.34.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on APP shares. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of AppLovin from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $80.00 to $280.00 in a research 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered AppLovin from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $103.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on AppLovin from $360.00 to $366.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on AppLovin from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $338.06.

AppLovin Trading Up 2.8 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $118.10 billion, a PE ratio of 106.62, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 2.29. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $331.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $191.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 2.41.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.33. AppLovin had a return on equity of 122.24% and a net margin of 26.85%. The business had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 38.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AppLovin Co. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 17,925 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.15, for a total value of $6,348,138.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 405,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $143,670,155.40. This represents a 4.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 593,588 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.37, for a total transaction of $189,574,199.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 3,919,024 shares in the company, valued at $1,251,618,694.88. The trade was a 13.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 888,867 shares of company stock valued at $284,773,062. 14.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of AppLovin by 27.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,494,516 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,372,000 after purchasing an additional 322,563 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in AppLovin by 13.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 11,352 shares of the company’s stock worth $933,000 after buying an additional 1,355 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in shares of AppLovin by 44.9% in the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 17,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,475,000 after acquiring an additional 5,490 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 95.1% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 22,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,896,000 after acquiring an additional 11,102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its position in AppLovin by 87.8% in the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,529 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares during the period. 41.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About AppLovin

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.