AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Trading 7.2% Higher – Should You Buy?

AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP)’s share price traded up 7.2% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $427.18 and last traded at $421.5970. 5,546,747 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 19% from the average session volume of 6,889,060 shares. The stock had previously closed at $393.22.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on APP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on AppLovin from $425.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded AppLovin from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $860.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of AppLovin from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of AppLovin from $735.00 to $543.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $651.77.

AppLovin Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $142.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 2.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 3.32 and a quick ratio of 3.32. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $554.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $572.90.

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

Insider Activity

In other AppLovin news, Director Dawson Alyssa Harvey sold 150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $693.32, for a total value of $103,998.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,961,402.28. This trade represents a 5.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 7,609 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $657.13, for a total value of $5,000,102.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 277,110 shares in the company, valued at approximately $182,097,294.30. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 13.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AppLovin

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new stake in AppLovin in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of AppLovin in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. grew its position in AppLovin by 160.0% during the fourth quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 39 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in AppLovin during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in AppLovin in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.85% of the company’s stock.

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.