Wesbanco Bank Inc. Acquires Shares of 2,000 AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. bought a new position in shares of AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 2,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $648,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its position in shares of AppLovin by 64.9% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,037,000 after purchasing an additional 3,126 shares in the last quarter. Second Half Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in AppLovin in the third quarter valued at $224,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in AppLovin by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,388,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $703,406,000 after acquiring an additional 428,419 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of AppLovin by 2,200.4% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 523,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,297,000 after purchasing an additional 500,407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zacks Investment Management increased its position in shares of AppLovin by 328.1% in the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 106,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,854,000 after purchasing an additional 81,331 shares during the last quarter. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Craig Scott Billings sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.94, for a total value of $5,740,920.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,987 shares in the company, valued at $952,673.78. The trade was a 85.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 15,971 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.07, for a total transaction of $5,000,040.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 372,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $116,526,219.35. This trade represents a 4.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 888,867 shares of company stock worth $284,773,062 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 14.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on APP. Daiwa America upgraded AppLovin from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Macquarie boosted their price target on AppLovin from $270.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price objective on shares of AppLovin in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of AppLovin from $335.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of AppLovin from $250.00 to $435.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $355.41.

AppLovin Price Performance

Shares of APP opened at $362.52 on Friday. AppLovin Co. has a one year low of $40.71 and a one year high of $417.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $335.97 and its 200-day moving average is $195.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 2.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 2.29.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. AppLovin had a net margin of 26.85% and a return on equity of 122.24%. AppLovin’s revenue was up 38.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.30 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that AppLovin Co. will post 4.06 EPS for the current year.

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.