Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Trading 1.8% Higher – Time to Buy?

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD)’s stock price rose 1.8% on Friday . The company traded as high as $26.48 and last traded at $26.37. 13,364,630 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 23,256,396 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.91.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on APLD shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Applied Digital from $36.50 to $37.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Craig Hallum raised their target price on Applied Digital from $75.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Lake Street Capital upped their price target on Applied Digital from $70.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Citizens Jmp increased their price objective on Applied Digital from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Northland Securities set a $82.00 price objective on Applied Digital and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.15.

Applied Digital Trading Up 1.8%

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $29.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 4.01 and a current ratio of 4.01. The stock has a market cap of $7.69 billion, a PE ratio of -29.63 and a beta of 5.72.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The company reported ($0.39) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.30). The business had revenue of $240.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $96.85 million. Applied Digital had a negative net margin of 37.78% and a negative return on equity of 16.42%. The business’s revenue was up 406.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.24) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Applied Digital Corporation will post -1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Richard Nottenburg sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.15, for a total transaction of $2,336,250.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 133,378 shares in the company, valued at $4,154,724.70. This represents a 35.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Digital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of APLD. Situational Awareness LP lifted its holdings in Applied Digital by 14.1% in the second quarter. Situational Awareness LP now owns 15,384,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $574,000 after acquiring an additional 1,906,178 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of Applied Digital by 3,718.0% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 11,121,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $414,848,000 after purchasing an additional 10,830,623 shares during the last quarter. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Digital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $312,349,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Applied Digital by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,285,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,151,000 after buying an additional 304,228 shares during the period. Finally, Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Digital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $138,380,000. 65.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.