New York State Common Retirement Fund Grows Stake in AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 150,535 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,700 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in AppLovin were worth $48,748,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AppLovin in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Hemington Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of AppLovin by 78.4% in the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 91 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in AppLovin by 172.2% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 98 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in AppLovin by 38.2% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 105 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC bought a new position in AppLovin in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Benchmark raised their target price on AppLovin from $375.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on AppLovin from $400.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America raised their target price on AppLovin from $375.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on AppLovin from $220.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on AppLovin from $440.00 to $630.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $430.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 1,676 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $356.39, for a total transaction of $597,309.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,058,635 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,090,066,927.65. This represents a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Herald Y. Chen sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $366.16, for a total value of $146,464.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 207,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $76,032,757.84. This represents a 0.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 217,403 shares of company stock valued at $72,325,024 over the last ninety days. 14.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AppLovin Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ APP opened at $494.17 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $361.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $239.37. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $54.50 and a 1-year high of $525.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.85, a PEG ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 2.30.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that AppLovin Co. will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

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.