AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Rating Increased to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $350.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $470.00.

APP has been the topic of several other reports. FBN Securities began coverage on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Friday, March 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $385.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $325.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of AppLovin from $460.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group upped their price target on AppLovin from $440.00 to $630.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Arete Research set a $200.00 price objective on AppLovin in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AppLovin currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $434.32.

AppLovin Stock Down 4.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:APP opened at $263.83 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 2.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.69 billion, a PE ratio of 58.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.39. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $329.81 and a 200 day moving average of $292.58. AppLovin has a 52-week low of $60.67 and a 52-week high of $525.15.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AppLovin will post 6.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 621,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $201,675,501.85. This represents a 24.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.65, for a total value of $4,228,875.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 88,389 shares of the company’s stock, 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 306,900 shares of company stock worth $106,401,841. 14.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APP. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in AppLovin by 38.8% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 25,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,286,000 after purchasing an additional 7,039 shares during the period. Oxinas Partners Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in AppLovin in the fourth quarter worth about $1,081,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of AppLovin in the third quarter worth about $3,211,000. Franchise Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of AppLovin during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,811,000. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of AppLovin by 92.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 318,992 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,643,000 after acquiring an additional 153,248 shares during the period. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.