AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Stock Price Up 0.2% – Time to Buy?

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)’s share price shot up 0.2% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $262.08 and last traded at $250.50. 2,296,054 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 60% from the average session volume of 5,750,898 shares. The stock had previously closed at $249.95.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on APP shares. Morgan Stanley raised AppLovin from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $470.00 to $350.00 in a report on Thursday. Citigroup boosted their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of AppLovin from $538.00 to $386.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 price target on shares of AppLovin in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $575.00 to $425.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $424.84.

AppLovin Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $80.83 billion, a PE ratio of 52.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.39. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. The company’s fifty day moving average is $327.20 and its 200 day moving average is $294.56.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last issued its earnings results 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that AppLovin Co. will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at AppLovin

In other news, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 17,500 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 88,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,359,201.85. The trade was a 16.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 44,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $410.89, for a total value of $18,243,516.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,869,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,179,045,567.88. This represents a 1.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 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

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its position in shares of AppLovin by 38.8% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 25,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,286,000 after purchasing an additional 7,039 shares during the last quarter. Oxinas Partners Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in AppLovin in the fourth quarter worth about $1,081,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in AppLovin in the third quarter valued at about $3,211,000. Franchise Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in AppLovin during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,811,000. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in AppLovin by 92.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 318,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,643,000 after buying an additional 153,248 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.