S&CO Inc. Invests $218,000 in AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)

S&CO Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of APP. FMR LLC grew its holdings in AppLovin by 622.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,893,237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,030,462,000 after purchasing an additional 6,801,138 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of AppLovin during the 4th quarter worth about $1,781,922,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position in shares of AppLovin by 5,421.4% during the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,084,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,322,682,000 after buying an additional 4,010,520 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in AppLovin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $535,070,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in AppLovin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $414,462,000. 41.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

APP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $375.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on AppLovin from $325.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of AppLovin from $220.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of AppLovin from $400.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of AppLovin from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $438.28.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AppLovin news, Director Herald Y. Chen sold 99,000 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.50, for a total transaction of $32,620,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 621,209 shares in the company, valued at $204,688,365.50. This trade represents a 13.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 15,971 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.07, for a total value of $5,000,040.97. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 372,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Insiders have sold a total of 404,371 shares of company stock valued at $139,793,507 in the last 90 days. 14.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AppLovin Trading Down 12.0 %

APP opened at $238.08 on Tuesday. AppLovin Co. has a 52 week low of $59.30 and a 52 week high of $525.15. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $361.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $264.02. The company has a market capitalization of $80.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.44, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.33. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.61. AppLovin had a return on equity of 188.55% and a net margin of 33.54%. Analysts forecast that AppLovin Co. will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current year.

AppLovin 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.