Applied Digital Co. (NASDAQ:APLD) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Applied Digital Co. (NASDAQ:APLD) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 42,820,000 shares, an increase of 9.0% from the November 15th total of 39,290,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 15,190,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days. Approximately 26.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Applied Digital Stock Performance

Shares of APLD stock traded down $0.13 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $8.90. 10,821,438 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,357,867. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.37. Applied Digital has a 52-week low of $2.36 and a 52-week high of $11.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.61 and a beta of 4.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 9th. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.28) by $0.13. Applied Digital had a negative net margin of 74.95% and a negative return on equity of 88.87%. The business had revenue of $60.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.85 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.10) EPS. Applied Digital’s revenue was up 67.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Applied Digital will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Douglas S. Miller sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.01, for a total value of $80,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 208,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,670,133.06. This represents a 4.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard N. Nottenburg sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.37, for a total value of $589,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 433,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,196,265.82. This trade represents a 15.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 359,369 shares of company stock valued at $3,115,161. 11.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Applied Digital by 15.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,018 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,000 after purchasing an additional 3,182 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in Applied Digital by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 91,086 shares of the company’s stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 11,288 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Applied Digital by 36.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 304,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,814,000 after acquiring an additional 80,958 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Digital by 115.7% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 66,688 shares of the company’s stock valued at $397,000 after acquiring an additional 35,768 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 18.3% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,869,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,077,000 after acquiring an additional 443,699 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

APLD has been the topic of several recent research reports. B. Riley lifted their price target on shares of Applied Digital from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Lake Street Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Digital from $7.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on Applied Digital from $5.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $10.00 price target on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $11.00 price target on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.50.

Applied Digital Company Profile

Applied Digital Corporation designs, develops, and operates datacenters in North America. Its datacenters provide digital infrastructure solutions to the high-performance computing industry. The company also provides artificial intelligence cloud services, high performance computing datacenter hosting, and crypto datacenter hosting services.