Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Stock Price Up 8.7% – Here’s Why

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) was up 8.7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $27.34 and last traded at $27.10. Approximately 19,874,492 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 44% from the average daily volume of 35,629,555 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.94.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Lake Street Capital upped their target price on shares of Applied Digital from $18.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Compass Point assumed coverage on Applied Digital in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered Applied Digital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, October 19th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.20.

Applied Digital Stock Up 8.7%

The stock has a market capitalization of $7.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.98 and a beta of 6.77. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 9th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.08. The company 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%. Applied Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 84.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.15) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Digital Corporation will post -0.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Wes Cummins sold 400,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.26, for a total value of $6,104,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,659,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,582,123.54. This trade represents a 13.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Mohammad Saidal Lavanw Mohmand sold 100,000 shares of Applied Digital stock in a transaction on Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.08, for a total value of $3,408,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 158,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,415,720.96. This represents a 38.62% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 823,035 shares of company stock valued at $18,930,179 in the last ninety days. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Digital

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp bought a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Applied Digital by 56,450.0% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 1,129 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Dagco Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in Applied Digital in the first quarter worth about $28,000. 65.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.