AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Shares Up 3.5% After Analyst Upgrade

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)’s share price shot up 3.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $100.00 to $185.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. AppLovin traded as high as $165.38 and last traded at $164.49. 1,234,189 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 4,168,617 shares. The stock had previously closed at $158.95.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $155.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of AppLovin from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Wedbush dropped their price target on shares of AppLovin from $100.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Benchmark increased their price target on shares of AppLovin from $48.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of AppLovin from $105.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AppLovin has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Katie Kihorany Jansen sold 72,307 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total value of $5,472,193.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 1,164,396 shares in the company, valued at $88,121,489.28. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other AppLovin news, Director Dawson Alyssa Harvey sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.90, for a total transaction of $131,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $900,711.30. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Katie Kihorany Jansen sold 72,307 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total transaction of $5,472,193.76. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 1,164,396 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,121,489.28. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 610,094 shares of company stock worth $51,022,478 in the last three months. 14.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AppLovin

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of APP. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in AppLovin by 1,642.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 182,033 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,254,000 after purchasing an additional 171,586 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of AppLovin in the first quarter worth approximately $38,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AppLovin in the first quarter worth approximately $146,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of AppLovin by 39.4% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 68,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,746,000 after acquiring an additional 19,381 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of AppLovin in the first quarter worth approximately $233,000. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AppLovin Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $116.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 94.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.27, a current ratio of 2.28 and a quick ratio of 2.28.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.12. AppLovin had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 84.16%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.22 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 44.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that AppLovin Co. will post 3.46 EPS for the current year.

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.