Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Sees Large Volume Increase – What’s Next?

Shares of Applied Digital Co. (NASDAQ:APLD) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Wednesday . Approximately 5,749,910 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 28% from the previous session’s volume of 7,975,390 shares.The stock last traded at $9.95 and had previously closed at $9.57.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on APLD shares. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $10.00 target price on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Lake Street Capital upped their target price on Applied Digital from $7.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. HC Wainwright boosted their price target on Applied Digital from $5.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $11.00 price target on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Craig Hallum upped their target price on Applied Digital from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $10.50.

Applied Digital Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $8.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $6.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.74 and a beta of 4.67.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 9th. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.28) by $0.13. Applied Digital had a negative return on equity of 88.87% and a negative net margin of 74.95%. The firm had revenue of $60.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.85 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.10) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 67.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Digital Co. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Wes Cummins sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.20, for a total transaction of $1,840,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,875,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,658,786. This represents a 4.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Douglas S. Miller sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.50, for a total transaction of $55,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 218,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,201,783. The trade was a 4.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 369,369 shares of company stock valued at $3,170,161. Company insiders own 11.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Digital

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 37,411 shares of the company’s stock worth $309,000 after acquiring an additional 3,040 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Applied Digital by 15.3% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,018 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 3,182 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Applied Digital by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 43,064 shares of the company’s stock valued at $355,000 after buying an additional 5,423 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Applied Digital by 99.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,071 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 6,507 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ICA Group Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Applied Digital by 56.8% in the 2nd quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,000 after buying an additional 6,795 shares in the last quarter. 65.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Applied Digital

Applied Digital Corporation designs, develops, and operates datacenters in North America. Its datacenters provide digital infrastructure solutions to the high-performance computing industry. The company also provides artificial intelligence cloud services, high performance computing datacenter hosting, and crypto datacenter hosting services.