Davis Selected Advisers Increases Stock Holdings in AppLovin Corporation $APP

Davis Selected Advisers raised its stake in shares of AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) by 4.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 223,574 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,501 shares during the quarter. Davis Selected Advisers owned approximately 0.07% of AppLovin worth $160,647,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AppLovin by 39.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,954,458 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,930,776,000 after purchasing an additional 7,051,663 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of AppLovin by 111.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,852,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,516,471,000 after buying an additional 6,237,051 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in AppLovin in the second quarter worth about $951,541,000. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in AppLovin in the third quarter worth about $1,456,108,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in AppLovin by 55.2% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,886,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,792,355,000 after buying an additional 1,381,970 shares during the period. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AppLovin Price Performance

APP stock opened at $442.57 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $483.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $573.55. AppLovin Corporation has a 52-week low of $200.50 and a 52-week high of $745.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.39, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 2.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 3.32 and a current ratio of 3.32.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.35. AppLovin had a return on equity of 245.64% and a net margin of 57.42%.The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.73 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 66.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that AppLovin Corporation will post 6.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on APP shares. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on AppLovin from $740.00 to $660.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 target price (down from $800.00) on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Wedbush lifted their price target on AppLovin from $465.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $720.00 price target on AppLovin in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group set a $740.00 price objective on AppLovin in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AppLovin presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $654.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 40,704 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.85, for a total value of $18,717,734.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,430,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,117,625,877.90. This represents a 1.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 5,231 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.47, for a total value of $2,497,645.57. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 30,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,638,275.26. The trade was a 14.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 344,334 shares of company stock valued at $159,993,818. 13.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Trending Headlines about AppLovin

Here are the key news stories impacting AppLovin this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AppLovin is pitching e‑commerce (AXON 2.0) as a new growth engine that could expand its addressable ad market beyond gaming; this is being highlighted as a meaningful upside case by analysts. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Seeking Alpha published an upgrade/bullish take that argues upside remains if management executes on monetization and growth initiatives. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street consensus remains favorable (average brokerage rating ~Buy), which can support the stock if quarterly execution stays strong. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data in recent reports shows anomalous zeros/NaN entries (likely a reporting/data error), so there’s no clear signal from short interest this cycle.
• Neutral Sentiment: Advisory Services Network LLC sold a small block (1,455 shares), reducing its position modestly — immaterial to large‑cap liquidity. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several media pieces are re‑examining valuation and recent volatility (useful context but not immediate catalysts). Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Director Eduardo Vivas sold 163,910 shares (~$74.3M) at an average ~$453.49 on Mar 16 — a large insider sale that likely amplified selling pressure and market concern over insider timing. SEC filing: SEC Filing
• Negative Sentiment: Market coverage highlighted the stock’s drop and tied some of the move to the insider sale and short‑term technical weakness, which can amplify downward momentum. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Other headlines explicitly link recent share weakness to insider selling, reinforcing negative sentiment among traders. Article Title

About AppLovin

AppLovin Corporation is a Palo Alto–based mobile technology company that provides software and services to help app developers grow and monetize their businesses. The company operates a data-driven advertising and marketing platform that connects app publishers and advertisers, delivering tools for user acquisition, monetization, analytics and creative optimization. AppLovin’s technology is integrated into a broad set of mobile applications through software development kits (SDKs) and ad products designed to maximize revenue and engagement for developers.

Key components of AppLovin’s offering include an ad mediation and exchange platform that enables publishers to manage and monetize inventory across multiple demand sources, and a user-acquisition platform that helps advertisers target and scale campaigns.