Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Trading 5.1% Higher – Still a Buy?

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) rose 5.1% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $25.32 and last traded at $24.94. Approximately 21,871,146 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 39% from the average daily volume of 35,698,488 shares. The stock had previously closed at $23.74.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on APLD shares. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Compass Point began coverage on Applied Digital in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Lake Street Capital upped their target price on shares of Applied Digital from $18.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Craig Hallum boosted their price target on shares of Applied Digital to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.20.

Applied Digital Stock Up 5.1%

The company has a market capitalization of $6.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -22.07 and a beta of 6.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $28.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 9th. The company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.08. The business had revenue of $64.22 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.25 million. Applied Digital had a negative net margin of 111.29% and a negative return on equity of 37.14%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.15) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Applied Digital Corporation will post -0.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Digital

In other news, Director Ella G. Benson sold 42,569 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.30, for a total transaction of $1,502,685.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 69,256 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,444,736.80. This represents a 38.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Chuck Hastings sold 50,000 shares of Applied Digital stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.69, for a total value of $1,784,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 451,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,118,032.28. This trade represents a 9.97% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 823,035 shares of company stock valued at $18,930,179 in the last quarter. Insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Digital

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 24,356.8% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 5,219,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,561,000 after buying an additional 5,198,223 shares in the last quarter. Situational Awareness LP purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Digital during the first quarter worth $22,680,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Digital by 23.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,722,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $406,547,000 after acquiring an additional 3,339,062 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new position in shares of Applied Digital in the third quarter valued at $69,535,000. Finally, Partners Capital Investment Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of Applied Digital during the 1st quarter valued at $8,673,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.67% of the company’s stock.

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.