AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Trading Down 2% After Analyst Downgrade

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)’s stock price traded down 2% during mid-day trading on Thursday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $630.00 to $450.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. AppLovin traded as low as $263.00 and last traded at $269.45. 3,016,241 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 5,687,868 shares. The stock had previously closed at $274.96.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on APP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of AppLovin from $325.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on AppLovin from $220.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup lifted 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. Bank of America upped their price target on AppLovin from $375.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of AppLovin from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $470.00 to $350.00 in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AppLovin presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $424.84.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $422.21, for a total value of $18,999,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,914,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,230,527,667.32. This represents a 1.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.65, for a total transaction of $4,228,875.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 88,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,359,201.85. The trade was a 16.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 306,900 shares of company stock valued at $106,401,841 in the last three months. 14.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AppLovin

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APP. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of AppLovin by 75.5% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,851,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,485,409,000 after buying an additional 5,957,885 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new position in AppLovin during the fourth quarter worth about $1,781,922,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in AppLovin by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,519,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,462,144,000 after acquiring an additional 573,310 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings in AppLovin by 5,421.4% in 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. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of AppLovin by 68.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,018,990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $977,639,000 after purchasing an additional 1,222,074 shares in the last quarter. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AppLovin Stock Performance

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’s 50-day moving average price is $327.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $293.41. The company has a market cap of $84.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.39.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.61. AppLovin had a net margin of 33.54% and a return on equity of 188.55%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AppLovin Co. will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current 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.