Korea Investment CORP Reduces Stock Position in AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)

Korea Investment CORP trimmed its position in AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) by 29.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 170,873 shares of the company’s stock after selling 70,764 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP owned about 0.05% of AppLovin worth $55,334,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of APP. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 6,801,138 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in AppLovin in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,781,922,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its stake 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 valued at $1,322,682,000 after acquiring an additional 4,010,520 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AppLovin during the 4th quarter worth about $535,070,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new position in shares of AppLovin during the 4th quarter worth about $414,462,000. 41.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of AppLovin from $440.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup increased their target price on AppLovin from $460.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on AppLovin from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Bank of America raised their price objective on AppLovin from $375.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $538.00 price objective on AppLovin and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $438.28.

AppLovin Stock Performance

NASDAQ:APP opened at $261.70 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $353.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $280.42. 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 has a market cap of $88.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.64, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.33. AppLovin Co. has a 1-year low of $60.67 and a 1-year high of $525.15.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $422.21, for a total transaction of $18,999,450.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,914,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,230,527,667.32. This trade represents a 1.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Herald Y. Chen sold 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.65, for a total value of $64,930,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 621,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,675,501.85. This represents a 24.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 306,900 shares of company stock worth $106,401,841. 14.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.