AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 18,790,000 shares, a decrease of 14.1% from the October 15th total of 21,880,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,630,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.1 days. Currently, 9.4% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on AppLovin from $185.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of AppLovin in a report on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on AppLovin from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup boosted their price target on AppLovin from $155.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Macquarie boosted their price target on AppLovin from $150.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AppLovin currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $194.31.

AppLovin Stock Performance

Shares of APP stock opened at $291.09 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $159.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $109.11. The company has a market cap of $97.69 billion, a PE ratio of 88.21, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. AppLovin has a 12-month low of $35.79 and a 12-month high of $302.55.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.33. AppLovin had a return on equity of 122.24% and a net margin of 26.85%. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 38.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that AppLovin will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at AppLovin

In other AppLovin news, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.04, for a total value of $473,220.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 4,536,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $390,315,899.88. The trade was a 0.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Dawson Alyssa Harvey sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.90, for a total transaction of $131,850.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $900,711.30. This trade represents a 12.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 235,542 shares of company stock worth $32,012,275. 14.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AppLovin

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its position in shares of AppLovin by 9,470.1% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 250,641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,336,000 after acquiring an additional 248,022 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in AppLovin by 10.5% in the third quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 10,820,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,382,307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,029,009 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in AppLovin by 10.0% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,440,000 after purchasing an additional 2,385 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in AppLovin by 2,081.4% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 16,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,127,000 after purchasing an additional 15,590 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE purchased a new stake in AppLovin in the third quarter valued at $7,086,000. 41.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About AppLovin

AppLovin Corporation engages in building a software-based platform for advertisers to enhance the marketing and monetization of their content in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Software Platform and Apps. The company's software solutions include AppDiscovery, a marketing software solution, which matches advertiser demand with publisher supply through auctions; MAX, an in-app bidding software that optimizes the value of a publisher's advertising inventory by running a real-time competitive auction; Adjust, a measurement and analytics marketing platform that provides marketers with the visibility, insights, and tools needed to grow their apps from early stage to maturity; and Wurl, a connected TV platform, which distributes streaming video for content companies and provides advertising and publishing solutions through its AdPool, ContentDiscovery, and Global FAST Pass products.