Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Holdings in AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) by 28.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,617,139 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,642,661 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 4.95% of AppLovin worth $5,381,128,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of APP. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 38.2% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 105 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 5,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,696,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 4.0% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $131,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 78.4% in the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 91 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of AppLovin by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 322 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on APP. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $220.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Arete Research set a $200.00 price objective on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Benchmark increased their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $375.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Macquarie increased 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AppLovin presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $438.28.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $422.21, for a total value of $18,999,450.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,914,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,230,527,667.32. The trade was a 1.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.65, for a total transaction of $4,228,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 88,389 shares in the company, valued at $21,359,201.85. This trade represents a 16.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 306,900 shares of company stock valued at $106,401,841 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 14.69% of the company’s stock.

AppLovin Stock Performance

NASDAQ:APP opened at $314.03 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $353.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $276.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. The company has a market cap of $106.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.33. AppLovin Co. has a twelve month low of $60.67 and a twelve month high of $525.15.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.61. AppLovin had a net margin of 33.54% and a return on equity of 188.55%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AppLovin Co. will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.