Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Hits New 52-Week High - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) reached a new 52-week high at $25.90, showing a significant increase in trading volume compared to its previous close.
• Multiple research firms have issued buy ratings for APLD, raising their target prices, with a consensus target of $15.64.
• Insider selling was reported, including considerable transactions by CFO and CEO, with a collective value exceeding $7.7 million in shares sold over the past three months.

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $25.90 and last traded at $25.90, with a volume of 1195041 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $25.00.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on APLD. Lake Street Capital boosted their target price on Applied Digital from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. B. Riley upped their price objective on Applied Digital from $8.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Applied Digital from $12.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. HC Wainwright upped their price objective on Applied Digital from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Compass Point started coverage on Applied Digital in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twelve have issued a Buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $15.64.

Applied Digital Stock Up 10.0%

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $16.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.24 and a beta of 6.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.12). The business had revenue of $38.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.86 million. Applied Digital had a negative return on equity of 50.03% and a negative net margin of 107.22%.Applied Digital's revenue was up 41.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.14) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Digital Corporation will post -0.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Digital

In other Applied Digital news, CFO Mohammad Saidal Lavanw Mohmand sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.26, for a total value of $1,144,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 201,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,079,468. This trade represents a 27.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Wes Cummins sold 400,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.26, for a total value of $6,104,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,659,379 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,582,123.54. This represents a 13.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 506,250 shares of company stock worth $7,713,675. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Digital

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Digital by 6.0% during the second quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 15,930 shares of the company's stock valued at $160,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Applied Digital by 1.6% during the second quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 68,417 shares of the company's stock valued at $689,000 after buying an additional 1,063 shares during the last quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Applied Digital by 2.0% during the first quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. now owns 97,224 shares of the company's stock valued at $546,000 after buying an additional 1,899 shares during the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Applied Digital by 14.8% during the first quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 15,500 shares of the company's stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Applied Digital by 11.7% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,056 shares of the company's stock valued at $107,000 after buying an additional 2,001 shares during the last quarter. 65.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Applied Digital

Applied Digital Corporation designs, develops, and operates datacenters in North America. Its datacenters provide digital infrastructure solutions to the high-performance computing industry. The company also provides artificial intelligence cloud services, high performance computing datacenter hosting, and crypto datacenter hosting services.

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