AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Shares Up 1.7% – Time to Buy?

AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) shares shot up 1.7% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $663.88 and last traded at $658.65. 4,361,143 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 9% from the average session volume of 3,988,365 shares. The stock had previously closed at $647.72.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on APP. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $705.00 price target on shares of AppLovin and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $800.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of AppLovin from $575.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of AppLovin from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on AppLovin from $580.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $696.60.

AppLovin Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $639.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $547.55. The company has a current ratio of 3.25, a quick ratio of 3.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38. The company has a market capitalization of $222.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 2.50.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $2.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.11. AppLovin had a net margin of 51.27% and a return on equity of 258.49%. The business had revenue of $1.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.29 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 68.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that AppLovin Corporation will post 6.87 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 4,069 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $497.50, for a total transaction of $2,024,327.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,998,948 shares in the company, valued at $1,491,976,630. The trade was a 0.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 7,609 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $657.13, for a total value of $5,000,102.17. Following the transaction, the insider owned 277,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $182,097,294.30. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 340,336 shares of company stock worth $200,062,623. Company insiders own 13.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AppLovin

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 39.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,954,458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,930,776,000 after buying an additional 7,051,663 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in AppLovin by 111.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,852,466 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,516,471,000 after buying an additional 6,237,051 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in AppLovin in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $951,541,000. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in AppLovin during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,456,108,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in AppLovin by 55.2% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,886,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,792,355,000 after acquiring an additional 1,381,970 shares during the period. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About AppLovin

AppLovin Corporation is a Palo Alto–based mobile technology company that provides software and services to help app developers grow and monetize their businesses. The company operates a data-driven advertising and marketing platform that connects app publishers and advertisers, delivering tools for user acquisition, monetization, analytics and creative optimization. AppLovin’s technology is integrated into a broad set of mobile applications through software development kits (SDKs) and ad products designed to maximize revenue and engagement for developers.

Key components of AppLovin’s offering include an ad mediation and exchange platform that enables publishers to manage and monetize inventory across multiple demand sources, and a user-acquisition platform that helps advertisers target and scale campaigns.