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

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) was the target of a large drop in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 16,670,000 shares, a drop of 11.3% from the October 31st total of 18,790,000 shares. Currently, 8.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 5,430,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days.

AppLovin Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of APP stock opened at $340.59 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 2.41. AppLovin has a one year low of $35.79 and a one year high of $347.60. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $201.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $126.29. The company has a market capitalization of $114.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.21, a PEG ratio of 4.15 and a beta of 1.86.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APP has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $260.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of AppLovin from $202.00 to $291.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America raised their price target on AppLovin from $252.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered AppLovin from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $103.00 to $150.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on AppLovin from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $265.57.

Insider Buying and Selling at AppLovin

In related news, Director Dawson Alyssa Harvey sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 10,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $900,711.30. This trade represents a 12.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 593,588 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.37, for a total value of $189,574,199.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 3,919,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,251,618,694.88. This trade represents a 13.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 884,395 shares of company stock worth $243,101,629. 14.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC lifted its stake in AppLovin by 622.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,893,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,030,462,000 after purchasing an additional 6,801,138 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AppLovin in the second quarter worth about $290,655,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of AppLovin by 977.2% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,496,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,522,000 after buying an additional 1,357,400 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in AppLovin by 10.5% during 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 buying an additional 1,029,009 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in AppLovin by 31.3% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,350,802 shares of the company’s stock valued at $306,897,000 after buying an additional 560,560 shares in the last quarter. 41.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.