AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Trading Up 11.3% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) traded up 11.3% during trading on Monday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from $560.00 to $615.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. AppLovin traded as high as $555.50 and last traded at $545.51. 9,198,185 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 31% from the average session volume of 7,012,177 shares. The stock had previously closed at $490.24.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on APP. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of AppLovin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $525.00 price objective on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $460.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $335.00 to $435.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $482.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at AppLovin

In other news, Director Dawson Alyssa Harvey sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.97, for a total transaction of $170,789.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,537,105.50. This represents a 10.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.57, for a total transaction of $13,127,100.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 3,360,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,470,280,707.28. This trade represents a 0.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,158,288 shares of company stock worth $515,437,023 over the last three months. 13.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Trust purchased a new position in AppLovin during the second quarter worth about $388,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its holdings in AppLovin by 6.6% in the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 20,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,185,000 after buying an additional 1,262 shares in the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in AppLovin by 19.6% in the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 24,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,714,000 after buying an additional 4,074 shares in the last quarter. MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH purchased a new position in AppLovin in the second quarter valued at about $288,000. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in AppLovin in the second quarter valued at about $215,000. 41.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AppLovin Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.01. The company has a market capitalization of $184.80 billion, a PE ratio of 77.49, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 2.44. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $402.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $347.07.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.21. AppLovin had a net margin of 45.72% and a return on equity of 252.67%. The company had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 77.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that AppLovin Corporation will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.