AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Stock Price Up 2% – Still a Buy?

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) traded up 2% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $331.00 and last traded at $319.19. 1,579,738 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 4,605,240 shares. The stock had previously closed at $313.07.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on APP. Benchmark restated a “sell” rating and set a $66.00 price objective on shares of AppLovin in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Macquarie boosted their price objective 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. Bank of America increased their price target on AppLovin from $252.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised AppLovin from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of AppLovin from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $103.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.71.

AppLovin Trading Up 1.7 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $106.88 billion, a PE ratio of 96.51, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 2.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $257.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $150.02.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.33. AppLovin had a return on equity of 122.24% and a net margin of 26.85%. The business had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.13 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.30 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 38.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that AppLovin Co. will post 4.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AppLovin news, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 1,676 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $356.39, for a total value of $597,309.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,058,635 shares in the company, valued at $1,090,066,927.65. The trade was a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 17,925 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.15, for a total value of $6,348,138.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 405,676 shares in the company, valued at $143,670,155.40. This represents a 4.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 872,896 shares of company stock valued at $279,773,021. Insiders own 14.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AppLovin

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of AppLovin by 43.2% during the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 6,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $841,000 after buying an additional 1,929 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in AppLovin by 37.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 996,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,158,000 after purchasing an additional 269,134 shares in the last quarter. Castellan Group bought a new position in AppLovin in the 3rd quarter valued at $8,799,000. Optimist Retirement Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of AppLovin during the 3rd quarter valued at $284,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of AppLovin during the 3rd quarter valued at $833,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.85% of the company’s stock.

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.