AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Stock Price Up 4.9% – Here’s Why

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) rose 4.9% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $261.00 and last traded at $249.78. Approximately 4,800,899 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 5% from the average daily volume of 5,078,897 shares. The stock had previously closed at $238.08.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

APP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of AppLovin from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Bank of America lifted their target price on AppLovin from $375.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Arete Research set a $200.00 price target on AppLovin in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of AppLovin from $450.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, UBS Group increased 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, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $438.28.

AppLovin Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 2.41. The stock has a market cap of $87.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.33. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $361.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $264.02.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share (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%. Analysts expect that AppLovin Co. will post 6.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AppLovin

In other AppLovin news, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 15,971 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 372,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $116,526,219.35. This represents a 4.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Herald Y. Chen sold 99,000 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $329.50, for a total transaction of $32,620,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 621,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,688,365.50. This trade represents a 13.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 404,371 shares of company stock worth $139,793,507 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 14.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AppLovin

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its position in shares of AppLovin by 64.9% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,037,000 after acquiring an additional 3,126 shares during the last quarter. Second Half Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in AppLovin during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $224,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of AppLovin by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,388,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $703,406,000 after purchasing an additional 428,419 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AppLovin by 2,200.4% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 523,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,297,000 after purchasing an additional 500,407 shares during the period. Finally, Zacks Investment Management boosted its stake in shares of AppLovin by 328.1% in the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 106,121 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,854,000 after purchasing an additional 81,331 shares during the last quarter. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.