AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Trading Up 4.4% After Analyst Upgrade

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) traded up 4.4% during trading on Tuesday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from $270.00 to $400.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. AppLovin traded as high as $334.74 and last traded at $333.76. 677,643 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 4,450,122 shares. The stock had previously closed at $319.59.

APP has been the subject of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on AppLovin from $185.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $250.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $400.00 target price for the company. BTIG Research raised their price target on shares of AppLovin from $202.00 to $291.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $252.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $265.57.

Insider Activity

In other AppLovin news, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 154,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.14, for a total transaction of $12,999,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 4,530,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $381,192,483.70. This trade represents a 3.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Dawson Alyssa Harvey sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.90, for a total value of $131,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $900,711.30. This trade represents a 12.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 854,065 shares of company stock valued at $233,072,408. 14.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Second Half Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AppLovin during the third quarter worth about $224,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in AppLovin by 2,200.4% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 523,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,297,000 after buying an additional 500,407 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its position in AppLovin by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 10,820,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,382,307,000 after buying an additional 1,029,009 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of AppLovin by 10.0% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,440,000 after acquiring an additional 2,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE purchased a new stake in shares of AppLovin during the third quarter worth $7,086,000. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AppLovin Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $110.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 99.56, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 1.86. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $189.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $121.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 2.41.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.33. AppLovin had a return on equity of 122.24% and a net margin of 26.85%. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.30 EPS. AppLovin’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AppLovin Co. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.