AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Shares Up 2% – Still a Buy?

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) shares shot up 2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $278.60 and last traded at $264.83. 4,542,848 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 9% from the average session volume of 4,984,147 shares. The stock had previously closed at $259.63.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on APP. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $560.00 price target (up from $480.00) on shares of AppLovin in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Arete Research raised AppLovin to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. Loop Capital increased their price objective on AppLovin from $450.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Macquarie increased their price objective on AppLovin from $270.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $538.00 price objective on AppLovin and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AppLovin currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $452.29.

AppLovin Price Performance

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $363.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $261.76. The stock has a market cap of $90.77 billion, a PE ratio of 59.58, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 2.41.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.61. AppLovin had a return on equity of 188.55% and a net margin of 33.54%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that AppLovin Co. will post 6.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $422.21, for a total value of $18,999,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,914,492 shares in the company, valued at $1,230,527,667.32. This trade represents a 1.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Herald Y. Chen sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $366.16, for a total value of $146,464.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 207,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $76,032,757.84. This represents a 0.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 406,447 shares of company stock worth $140,537,281 over the last 90 days. 14.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AppLovin

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in APP. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of AppLovin during the third quarter valued at $25,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AppLovin during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AppLovin during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AppLovin during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Riverview Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of AppLovin by 1,640.0% during the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 87 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.85% of the company’s stock.

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.