AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $257.76, but opened at $285.00. AppLovin shares last traded at $272.64, with a volume of 3,096,620 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on APP. Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $450.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Benchmark upped their price objective on AppLovin from $375.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on AppLovin from $440.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of AppLovin from $400.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 price target (up from $480.00) on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $438.28.

AppLovin Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $92.47 billion, a PE ratio of 59.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.33. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $358.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $265.29.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that AppLovin Co. will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AppLovin news, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 88,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,359,201.85. This trade represents a 16.53 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 15,971 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.07, for a total value of $5,000,040.97. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 372,205 shares in the company, valued at $116,526,219.35. This trade represents a 4.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 322,871 shares of company stock worth $111,401,882. 14.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AppLovin

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in AppLovin in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AppLovin during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Riverview Trust Co grew its position in AppLovin by 1,640.0% in the 4th quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 87 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AppLovin during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Hemington Wealth Management raised its position in shares of AppLovin by 78.4% during the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 91 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.85% of the company’s stock.

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.