AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,990,000 shares, a decline of 15.7% from the March 15th total of 13,040,000 shares. Approximately 5.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 8,540,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.3 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on APP. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of AppLovin from $538.00 to $386.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $500.00 to $335.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America increased their price objective on AppLovin from $375.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Benchmark boosted their target price on AppLovin from $375.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on AppLovin from $460.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $424.84.

Insider Buying and Selling at AppLovin

In other news, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $422.21, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 88,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,359,201.85. This trade represents a 16.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 306,900 shares of company stock worth $106,401,841 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 14.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC boosted its position in AppLovin by 92.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 318,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,643,000 after acquiring an additional 153,248 shares during the last quarter. Invst LLC increased its stake in AppLovin by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invst LLC now owns 6,812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $889,000 after buying an additional 1,284 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in AppLovin during the 3rd quarter worth about $3,211,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in shares of AppLovin during the 3rd quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co bought a new position in shares of AppLovin in the 3rd quarter valued at about $228,000. 41.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AppLovin Trading Down 4.2 %

NASDAQ:APP opened at $228.13 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $310.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $298.90. AppLovin has a fifty-two week low of $60.67 and a fifty-two week high of $525.15. 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 capitalization of $77.55 billion, a PE ratio of 50.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.39.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last released its quarterly 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that AppLovin will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AppLovin Company Profile

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.