AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Shares Down 0.5% – Should You Sell?

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) shares dropped 0.5% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $352.22 and last traded at $359.08. Approximately 710,963 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 3,999,593 shares. The stock had previously closed at $360.75.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

APP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price target on AppLovin from $252.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on AppLovin from $250.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Benchmark began coverage on AppLovin in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $375.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on AppLovin from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on AppLovin from $315.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four equities research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $366.29.

AppLovin Trading Up 1.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 2.41. The company has a market cap of $122.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 2.29. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $339.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $203.00.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.33. AppLovin had a return on equity of 122.24% and a net margin of 26.85%. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AppLovin Co. will post 4.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at AppLovin

In related news, CMO Katie Kihorany Jansen sold 59,876 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.14, for a total transaction of $17,132,918.64. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 1,017,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $291,115,402.32. This represents a 5.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 17,925 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.15, for a total value of $6,348,138.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 405,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $143,670,155.40. This trade represents a 4.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 888,867 shares of company stock worth $284,773,062 in the last ninety days. 14.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AppLovin

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 64.9% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,037,000 after buying an additional 3,126 shares during the period. Second Half Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of AppLovin in the third quarter worth about $224,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 8.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,388,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $703,406,000 after buying an additional 428,419 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 2,200.4% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 523,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,297,000 after buying an additional 500,407 shares during the period. Finally, Zacks Investment Management increased its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 328.1% in the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 106,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,854,000 after buying an additional 81,331 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 41.85% of the company’s stock.

AppLovin Company 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.