AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nineteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fourteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $430.41.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on APP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on AppLovin from $325.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Benchmark lifted their target price on AppLovin from $375.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 target price (up from $480.00) on shares of AppLovin in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on AppLovin from $220.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 target price (up from $170.00) on shares of AppLovin in a research report on Thursday, November 7th.

AppLovin Price Performance

Shares of APP stock opened at $494.17 on Thursday. AppLovin has a 52-week low of $54.50 and a 52-week high of $525.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 2.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $165.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 2.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $361.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $239.37.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts predict that AppLovin will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AppLovin news, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 15,971 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.07, for a total transaction of $5,000,040.97. Following the sale, the insider now owns 372,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $116,526,219.35. The trade was a 4.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 1,676 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $356.39, for a total value of $597,309.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,058,635 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,090,066,927.65. The trade was a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 217,403 shares of company stock worth $72,325,024 in the last ninety days. 14.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AppLovin

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 64.9% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,037,000 after buying an additional 3,126 shares during the period. Second Half Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of AppLovin in the 3rd quarter valued at about $224,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,388,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $703,406,000 after buying an additional 428,419 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 2,200.4% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 523,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,297,000 after buying an additional 500,407 shares during the period. Finally, Zacks Investment Management lifted its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 328.1% in the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 106,121 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,854,000 after buying an additional 81,331 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.