AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Stock Price Up 8.8% – Should You Buy?

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) traded up 8.8% on Friday . The company traded as high as $292.94 and last traded at $295.94. 3,978,200 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 23% from the average session volume of 5,158,006 shares. The stock had previously closed at $272.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Benchmark upped their price objective on AppLovin from $375.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on AppLovin from $400.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America increased their price target on AppLovin from $375.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 price target (up from $480.00) on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $438.28.

AppLovin Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 2.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $357.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $267.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.57 billion, a PE ratio of 64.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.33.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.61. AppLovin had a return on equity of 188.55% and a net margin of 33.54%. Research analysts expect that AppLovin Co. will post 6.87 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at AppLovin

In other AppLovin news, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 44,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.89, for a total transaction of $18,243,516.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,869,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,179,045,567.88. This trade represents a 1.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 15,971 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.07, for a total value of $5,000,040.97. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 372,205 shares in the company, valued at $116,526,219.35. This trade represents a 4.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 322,871 shares of company stock worth $111,401,882. 14.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AppLovin

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ bought a new stake in AppLovin during the 4th quarter valued at $21,804,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of AppLovin by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 27,601 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,938,000 after purchasing an additional 997 shares in the last quarter. Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AppLovin in the 4th quarter worth $889,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AppLovin in the 4th quarter worth $112,000. Finally, Menard Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of AppLovin by 29.2% in the 4th quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 2,482 shares of the company’s stock worth $804,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.85% of the company’s stock.

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.