AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Stock Price Up 1.4% – Here’s Why

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)’s stock price shot up 1.4% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $348.55 and last traded at $344.51. 2,428,000 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 7,602,232 shares. The stock had previously closed at $339.72.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company set a $538.00 price target on AppLovin and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Arete Research set a $200.00 target price on AppLovin in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Macquarie upped their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $270.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America upped their price target on AppLovin from $375.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Monday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $438.28.

AppLovin Stock Up 2.5 %

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 firm has a market cap of $118.32 billion, a PE ratio of 77.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.33. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $354.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $278.37.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.61. AppLovin had a net margin of 33.54% and a return on equity of 188.55%. Analysts expect that AppLovin Co. will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 88,389 shares in the company, valued at $21,359,201.85. This trade represents a 16.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $422.21, for a total transaction of $18,999,450.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,914,492 shares in the company, valued at $1,230,527,667.32. This represents a 1.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 306,900 shares of company stock worth $106,401,841. 14.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AppLovin

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in AppLovin during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AppLovin during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Riverview Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 82 shares during the period. Tucker Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in AppLovin in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Hemington Wealth Management boosted its stake in AppLovin by 78.4% during the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 91 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.