Baillie Gifford & Co. Trims Holdings in AppLovin Corporation $APP

Baillie Gifford & Co. decreased its stake in shares of AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) by 2.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,245,960 shares of the company’s stock after selling 154,269 shares during the quarter. AppLovin comprises about 3.3% of Baillie Gifford & Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned approximately 1.85% of AppLovin worth $4,487,972,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AppLovin in the 2nd quarter worth $951,541,000. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AppLovin in the third quarter worth about $1,456,108,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of AppLovin by 55.2% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,886,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,792,355,000 after buying an additional 1,381,970 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its stake in AppLovin by 82.2% during the second quarter. National Pension Service now owns 790,271 shares of the company’s stock valued at $276,658,000 after buying an additional 356,443 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in AppLovin by 235.5% during the 3rd quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 496,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,800,000 after buying an additional 348,548 shares in the last quarter. 41.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

APP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on AppLovin from $800.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $705.00 price target on shares of AppLovin and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $835.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $700.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of AppLovin in a research report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $706.76.

Insider Activity

In other AppLovin news, Director Eduardo Vivas sold 150,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $650.91, for a total value of $97,636,500.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,133,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,643,131,095.72. This represents a 2.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 27,143 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.38, for a total value of $14,803,249.34. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 3,323,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,812,669,143.78. The trade was a 0.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 340,336 shares of company stock valued at $200,062,623. 13.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AppLovin Price Performance

AppLovin stock opened at $524.41 on Friday. AppLovin Corporation has a 12-month low of $200.50 and a 12-month high of $745.61. The company has a current ratio of 3.25, a quick ratio of 3.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $634.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $559.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.22 billion, a PE ratio of 63.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 2.50.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $2.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.11. AppLovin had a net margin of 51.27% and a return on equity of 258.49%. The company had revenue of $1.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 68.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AppLovin Corporation will post 6.87 EPS for the current year.

AppLovin Profile

AppLovin Corporation is a Palo Alto–based mobile technology company that provides software and services to help app developers grow and monetize their businesses. The company operates a data-driven advertising and marketing platform that connects app publishers and advertisers, delivering tools for user acquisition, monetization, analytics and creative optimization. AppLovin’s technology is integrated into a broad set of mobile applications through software development kits (SDKs) and ad products designed to maximize revenue and engagement for developers.

Key components of AppLovin’s offering include an ad mediation and exchange platform that enables publishers to manage and monetize inventory across multiple demand sources, and a user-acquisition platform that helps advertisers target and scale campaigns.