AppLovin’s (APP) “Hold” Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP)‘s stock had its “hold” rating restated by Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $375.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of AppLovin from $360.00 to $366.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $335.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on AppLovin in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $400.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on AppLovin from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Four 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AppLovin presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $378.35.

AppLovin Stock Performance

APP opened at $380.32 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. The business’s 50 day moving average is $347.30 and its 200-day moving average is $224.62. The stock has a market cap of $127.63 billion, a PE ratio of 115.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 2.30. AppLovin has a twelve month low of $45.12 and a twelve month high of $417.64.

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 return on equity of 122.24% and a net margin of 26.85%. On average, analysts predict that AppLovin will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 593,588 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.37, for a total value of $189,574,199.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 3,919,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,251,618,694.88. This represents a 13.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 15,971 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.07, for a total value of $5,000,040.97. Following the sale, the insider now owns 372,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $116,526,219.35. The trade was a 4.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 828,991 shares of company stock worth $267,640,144 over the last ninety days. 14.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AppLovin

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC increased its stake in AppLovin by 622.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,893,237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,030,462,000 after buying an additional 6,801,138 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of AppLovin during the 4th quarter valued at $1,781,922,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its stake in shares of AppLovin by 5,421.4% in the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,084,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,322,682,000 after acquiring an additional 4,010,520 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of AppLovin during the fourth quarter worth $828,138,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in AppLovin by 457.2% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,893,148 shares of the company’s stock valued at $936,888,000 after purchasing an additional 2,373,885 shares during the last quarter. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.