Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Shares Down 4.8% – Should You Sell?

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD)’s share price was down 4.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $19.16 and last traded at $19.41. Approximately 15,560,499 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 33% from the average session volume of 23,116,109 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.39.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on APLD. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Applied Digital from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Sunday, August 30th. B. Riley Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 price target (up from $66.00) on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Zacks Research lowered Applied Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price target (up from $50.00) on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.75.

Applied Digital Stock Down 4.8%

The company has a market capitalization of $5.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.84 and a beta of 5.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.90, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a current ratio of 2.56. The business’s 50 day moving average is $24.45 and its 200 day moving average is $31.54.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 7th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.30) by $0.29. Applied Digital had a negative net margin of 51.28% and a negative return on equity of 27.21%. The business had revenue of $300.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $116.29 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.03) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 367.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Digital Corporation will post -2.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Digital news, President Jason Gechen Zhang bought 300,000 shares of Applied Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 16th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $18.86 per share, for a total transaction of $5,658,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 2,839,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,547,821.22. This represents a 11.81% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Richard Nottenburg sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.15, for a total value of $2,336,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 133,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,154,724.70. This represents a 35.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in APLD. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Applied Digital by 28.5% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,092 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the period. Krilogy Financial LLC grew its holdings in Applied Digital by 4.1% in the second quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 14,243 shares of the company’s stock valued at $531,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,000 after buying an additional 596 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in Applied Digital by 1.0% during the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 71,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,671,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Digital by 6.7% in the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 12,343 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 773 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.67% of the company’s stock.

About Applied Digital

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: APLD) develops and operates digital infrastructure designed to support high-performance computing and artificial intelligence applications. The company provides data-center capacity, hosting services and related infrastructure for customers that require substantial computing power and energy resources.

Its business includes high-performance computing data centers and cloud services intended to support artificial intelligence, machine learning, cryptocurrency mining and other compute-intensive workloads.