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

Applied Digital Co. (NASDAQ:APLD) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 39,290,000 shares, an increase of 45.4% from the October 31st total of 27,020,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 16,990,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.3 days. Approximately 24.0% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on APLD shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $11.00 price target on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Craig Hallum boosted their target price on shares of Applied Digital from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. B. Riley increased their price target on shares of Applied Digital from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Lake Street Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Digital from $7.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $10.00 target price on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.50.

Applied Digital Stock Up 4.6 %

Applied Digital stock traded up $0.44 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $10.10. The stock had a trading volume of 11,660,358 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,954,375. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Applied Digital has a 12-month low of $2.36 and a 12-month high of $10.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.63 and a beta of 4.65. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $7.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.99.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Wes Cummins sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.20, for a total value of $1,840,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,875,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,658,786. This represents a 4.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Douglas S. Miller sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.50, for a total transaction of $55,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 218,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,201,783. This trade represents a 4.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 369,369 shares of company stock valued at $3,170,161 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Digital

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Digital during the third quarter worth approximately $95,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Applied Digital during the 3rd quarter worth $2,030,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Applied Digital by 48.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,061,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,258,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,862 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in Applied Digital by 736.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 486,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,014,000 after purchasing an additional 428,428 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Management ETF Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the 3rd quarter worth $1,575,000. Institutional investors own 65.67% of the company’s stock.

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.