AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 14,100,000 shares, a growth of 12.9% from the January 15th total of 12,490,000 shares. Currently, 7.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 5,840,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on AppLovin from $220.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup increased their target price on AppLovin from $335.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on AppLovin from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on AppLovin from $325.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on AppLovin from $250.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $422.18.

Insider Activity

In other AppLovin news, CFO Herald Y. Chen sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $366.16, for a total transaction of $146,464.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 207,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,032,757.84. This represents a 0.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 15,971 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $116,526,219.35. This represents a 4.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 828,991 shares of company stock valued at $267,640,144. Insiders own 14.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AppLovin

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APP. Pennington Partners & CO. LLC bought a new stake in shares of AppLovin in the 4th quarter valued at about $385,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 39.7% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 62,397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,206,000 after purchasing an additional 17,746 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 633.3% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the period. Westbourne Investments Inc. acquired a new position in AppLovin in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,133,000. Finally, JAT Capital Mgmt LP grew its stake in AppLovin by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. JAT Capital Mgmt LP now owns 114,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,943,000 after buying an additional 19,081 shares during the last quarter. 41.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AppLovin Trading Up 8.2 %

APP stock traded up $38.46 during trading on Friday, hitting $510.13. The company had a trading volume of 11,325,513 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,704,961. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $351.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $230.42. AppLovin has a 12 month low of $52.75 and a 12 month high of $525.15. The stock has a market cap of $171.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 154.59, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 2.30.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.61. AppLovin had a net margin of 26.85% and a return on equity of 122.24%. As a group, analysts predict that AppLovin will post 4.09 earnings per share 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.