AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $325.74, but opened at $350.24. AppLovin shares last traded at $344.97, with a volume of 2,857,299 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on APP. Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of AppLovin from $375.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Macquarie raised their target price on shares of AppLovin from $270.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 price objective (up from $480.00) on shares of AppLovin in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on AppLovin from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $538.00 price objective on AppLovin and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.29.

AppLovin Stock Up 5.4 %

The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. The company has a market cap of $115.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.82, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.30. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $367.79 and its 200-day moving average is $255.38.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that AppLovin Co. will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 17,925 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.15, for a total transaction of $6,348,138.75. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 405,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $143,670,155.40. This represents a 4.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 1,676 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $356.39, for a total transaction of $597,309.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,058,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,090,066,927.65. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 224,872 shares of company stock worth $82,158,554. 14.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AppLovin

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in APP. FMR LLC raised its stake in AppLovin by 75.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,851,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,485,409,000 after purchasing an additional 5,957,885 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its position in AppLovin by 10.5% during the third quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 10,820,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,382,307,000 after acquiring an additional 1,029,009 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of AppLovin during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,781,922,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of AppLovin by 8.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,388,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $703,406,000 after buying an additional 428,419 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AppLovin by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,519,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,462,144,000 after acquiring an additional 573,310 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.85% of the company’s stock.

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.