TimesSquare Capital Management LLC Purchases New Shares in AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)

TimesSquare Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 273,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,495,000. AppLovin accounts for 1.3% of TimesSquare Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of AppLovin by 622.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,893,237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,030,462,000 after acquiring an additional 6,801,138 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in shares of AppLovin by 5,421.4% during the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,084,496 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,322,682,000 after acquiring an additional 4,010,520 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new stake in shares of AppLovin during the 4th quarter valued at $414,462,000. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AppLovin by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 10,820,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,382,307,000 after acquiring an additional 1,029,009 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of AppLovin by 31.3% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,350,802 shares of the company’s stock valued at $306,897,000 after acquiring an additional 560,560 shares during the period. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

APP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on AppLovin from $360.00 to $366.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Macquarie upped their target price on AppLovin from $270.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on AppLovin from $220.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 price objective (up from $480.00) on shares of AppLovin in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded AppLovin from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $422.18.

AppLovin Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of APP stock opened at $496.07 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $166.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 150.33, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 2.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $358.18 and a 200-day moving average of $237.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. AppLovin Co. has a 1-year low of $54.50 and a 1-year high of $525.15.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.61. AppLovin had a return on equity of 122.24% and a net margin of 26.85%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AppLovin Co. will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 1,676 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $356.39, for a total transaction of $597,309.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,058,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,090,066,927.65. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Herald Y. Chen sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $366.16, for a total value of $146,464.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 207,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $76,032,757.84. The trade was a 0.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 828,991 shares of company stock valued at $267,640,144. Company insiders own 14.69% of the company’s stock.

AppLovin 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.