AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Upgraded at Arete Research

Arete Research upgraded shares of AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) to a strong sell rating in a report published on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company set a $538.00 price objective on shares of AppLovin and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Macquarie boosted their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $270.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Daiwa America upgraded shares of AppLovin from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $220.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $450.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.29.

AppLovin Trading Up 4.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ APP opened at $270.48 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $365.13 and its 200-day moving average is $259.26. The stock has a market cap of $90.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.33. AppLovin has a twelve month low of $59.30 and a twelve month high of $525.15. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 predict that AppLovin will post 6.87 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 15,971 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.07, for a total transaction of $5,000,040.97. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 372,205 shares in the company, valued at $116,526,219.35. This represents a 4.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Herald Y. Chen sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.65, for a total transaction of $64,930,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 621,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,675,501.85. This trade represents a 24.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 406,447 shares of company stock worth $140,537,281 in the last three months. 14.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of AppLovin during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AppLovin during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AppLovin during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AppLovin during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Riverview Trust Co boosted its holdings in AppLovin by 1,640.0% during the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 87 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.