Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Raised to Strong-Buy at Lucid Cap Mkts

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) was upgraded by investment analysts at Lucid Cap Mkts to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on APLD. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Zacks Research upgraded Applied Digital from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Compass Point restated a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $59.11.

Applied Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:APLD opened at $49.65 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $14.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -67.09 and a beta of 5.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.38. Applied Digital has a one year low of $6.68 and a one year high of $50.73. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.31.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 8th. The company reported ($0.36) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $108.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.47 million. Applied Digital had a negative net margin of 52.84% and a negative return on equity of 15.91%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 139.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.08) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Digital will post -0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Digital news, Director Douglas S. Miller sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total transaction of $349,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 184,859 shares in the company, valued at $6,466,367.82. This trade represents a 5.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Richard N. Nottenburg sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.59, for a total value of $432,375.00. Following the sale, the director owned 208,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,207,795.02. This trade represents a 5.66% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,182,175. 9.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Digital

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky bought a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $994,000. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,204,000. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,369,000. MRA Advisory Group bought a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $978,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Digital by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,722,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $406,547,000 after purchasing an additional 3,339,062 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.67% of the company’s stock.

About Applied Digital

Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) is a technology company specializing in the development and operation of large-scale digital infrastructure and sustainable Bitcoin mining solutions. Through its integrated platform, the company designs, builds and manages turnkey data center facilities while also providing comprehensive hosting services for cloud, colocation and enterprise computing needs. Applied Digital’s modular approach to facility design enables rapid deployment of capacity and streamlined integration of power, cooling and network connectivity.

In addition to its data center business, Applied Digital operates a network of Bitcoin mining sites that leverage vertically integrated capabilities, including hardware procurement, mining farm engineering, energy management and real-time performance monitoring.