AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Trading 4.8% Higher – Time to Buy?

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) shares traded up 4.8% on Friday . The company traded as high as $286.91 and last traded at $274.31. 7,684,063 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 43% from the average session volume of 5,368,089 shares. The stock had previously closed at $261.70.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on APP shares. Benchmark raised their price objective on AppLovin from $375.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on AppLovin from $250.00 to $435.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $538.00 price objective on shares of AppLovin and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $460.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of AppLovin from $325.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $435.47.

AppLovin Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $353.26 and a 200 day moving average of $280.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.33. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.61. AppLovin had a net margin of 33.54% and a return on equity of 188.55%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AppLovin Co. will post 6.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 17,500 shares of the 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 owns 88,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,359,201.85. This represents a 16.53 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Herald Y. Chen sold 200,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.65, for a total transaction of $64,930,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 621,209 shares in the company, valued at $201,675,501.85. The trade was a 24.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 306,900 shares of company stock valued at $106,401,841 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 14.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AppLovin

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of AppLovin by 75.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,851,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,485,409,000 after buying an additional 5,957,885 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new position in AppLovin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,781,922,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in AppLovin by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,388,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $703,406,000 after acquiring an additional 428,419 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in AppLovin by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,519,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,462,144,000 after acquiring an additional 573,310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its stake in shares of AppLovin by 5,421.4% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,084,496 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,322,682,000 after purchasing an additional 4,010,520 shares during the period. 41.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About AppLovin

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.