AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Stock Price Up 7% on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) were up 7% during trading on Friday after Benchmark raised their price target on the stock from $375.00 to $525.00. Benchmark currently has a buy rating on the stock. AppLovin traded as high as $501.19 and last traded at $504.85. Approximately 3,487,812 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 26% from the average daily volume of 4,716,120 shares. The stock had previously closed at $471.67.

APP has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of AppLovin in a report on Thursday. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of AppLovin from $385.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of AppLovin from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $280.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Macquarie raised their target price on shares of AppLovin from $270.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of AppLovin from $440.00 to $630.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $422.18.

Insider Activity

In other AppLovin news, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 593,588 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.37, for a total value of $189,574,199.56. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 15,971 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.07, for a total transaction of $5,000,040.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 372,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $116,526,219.35. This trade represents a 4.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 828,991 shares of company stock worth $267,640,144. 14.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AppLovin

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in AppLovin in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of AppLovin in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. DT Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of AppLovin in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of AppLovin in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Riverview Trust Co raised its stake in shares of AppLovin by 1,640.0% in the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 87 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AppLovin Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $168.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 154.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 2.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 2.41. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $349.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $226.34.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.61. AppLovin had a net margin of 26.85% and a return on equity of 122.24%. As a group, research analysts expect that AppLovin Co. will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current year.

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.