Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Shares Up 4.8% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Applied Digital's share price increased by 4.8%, reaching a last traded price of $29.29 after previously closing at $27.94.
• Several analysts have rated the stock positively, with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a target price of $15.64, despite one analyst issuing a "sell" rating.
• Insiders have recently sold a substantial number of shares, with CEO Wes Cummins selling 400,000 shares valued at over $6 million, while insider ownership fell to 9.50%.

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD - Get Free Report)'s share price shot up 4.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $29.98 and last traded at $29.29. 34,640,548 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 36,087,512 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.94.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

APLD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Compass Point initiated coverage on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Craig Hallum boosted their target price on Applied Digital from $12.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on Applied Digital from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 25th. Lake Street Capital boosted their target price on Applied Digital from $14.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $15.64.

Applied Digital Stock Up 4.8%

The stock has a market capitalization of $8.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.87 and a beta of 6.77. The business has a fifty day moving average of $18.50 and a 200 day moving average of $11.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Digital

In other Applied Digital news, Director Richard N. Nottenburg sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.26, for a total value of $305,200.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 297,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,547,281.62. This represents a 6.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Wes Cummins sold 400,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.26, for a total transaction of $6,104,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,659,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Insiders have sold 506,250 shares of company stock valued at $7,713,675 over the last 90 days. 9.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APLD. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Digital during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new stake in Applied Digital during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Digital by 113.3% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,667 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 3,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Digital during the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. 65.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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