AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Stock Price Up 8.8% – Should You Buy?

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) was up 8.8% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $292.94 and last traded at $295.94. Approximately 3,978,200 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 23% from the average daily volume of 5,158,006 shares. The stock had previously closed at $272.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on APP shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on AppLovin from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup lifted their price target on AppLovin from $460.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Macquarie lifted their price target on AppLovin from $270.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Benchmark lifted their price target on AppLovin from $375.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on AppLovin from $250.00 to $435.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $438.28.

AppLovin Stock Up 7.7 %

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $357.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $267.94. 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 stock has a market cap of $99.57 billion, a PE ratio of 64.51, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.33.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share 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%. Analysts expect that AppLovin Co. will post 6.87 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at AppLovin

In related news, Director Herald Y. Chen sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.65, for a total transaction of $64,930,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 621,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $201,675,501.85. This represents a 24.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,914,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,230,527,667.32. This trade represents a 1.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 322,871 shares of company stock worth $111,401,882. 14.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of AppLovin

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of APP. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in AppLovin during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in AppLovin during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in AppLovin during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Riverview Trust Co grew its holdings in AppLovin by 1,640.0% during the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 87 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Finally, Tucker Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in AppLovin during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. 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.