AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation, fourteen have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $452.29.

APP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $220.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $440.00 to $630.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Arete Research upgraded shares of AppLovin to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $450.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th.

AppLovin Price Performance

Shares of APP stock opened at $270.48 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $90.77 billion, a PE ratio of 59.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.33. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $363.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $262.97. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. AppLovin has a twelve month low of $59.30 and a twelve month high of $525.15.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that AppLovin will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Herald Y. Chen sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.65, for a total value of $64,930,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 621,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $201,675,501.85. This trade represents a 24.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,914,492 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 406,047 shares of company stock valued at $140,390,817 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 14.69% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AppLovin

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of APP. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in AppLovin by 150.6% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,000 after buying an additional 613 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in AppLovin during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in AppLovin during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,730,000. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in AppLovin by 128.9% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,022 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,439,000 after buying an additional 6,206 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in AppLovin by 131.8% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 9,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,258,000 after buying an additional 5,480 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.