AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) Shares Sold by Korea Investment CORP

Korea Investment CORP reduced its stake in AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) by 29.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 170,873 shares of the company’s stock after selling 70,764 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in AppLovin were worth $55,334,000 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. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 89.7% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of AppLovin by 2.2% in the third quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 2,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $370,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of AppLovin by 36.3% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 18,120 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,366,000 after purchasing an additional 4,822 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 9,300.0% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new position in AppLovin in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $672,000. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased their price target on AppLovin from $460.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of AppLovin from $375.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target 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. Arete Research set a $200.00 price objective on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on AppLovin from $440.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AppLovin presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $438.28.

AppLovin Trading Down 20.1 %

AppLovin stock opened at $261.70 on Friday. AppLovin Co. has a 52 week low of $60.67 and a 52 week high of $525.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 2.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.33. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $353.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $280.42.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.61. AppLovin had a return on equity of 188.55% and a net margin of 33.54%. Research analysts forecast that AppLovin Co. will post 6.87 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AppLovin

In related news, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was 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 approximately $21,359,201.85. This trade represents a 16.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,914,492 shares in the company, valued at $1,230,527,667.32. This trade represents a 1.52 % 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 in the last 90 days. 14.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.