Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Shares Up 9.6% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Shares jumped 9.6% intraday to $28.65 on Wednesday, with 17.0M shares traded (about 47% below its average session volume).
• Analysts are broadly bullish — Applied Digital has a consensus rating of "Buy" with an average target of $37 and individual price targets as high as $56 from several firms.
• Insiders sold a total of 244,593 shares (about $9.0M) last quarter, including sales by the CEO and a director, leaving insiders with roughly 9.5% ownership.

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD - Get Free Report) traded up 9.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $28.95 and last traded at $28.65. 17,028,358 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 31,957,504 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.15.

Analyst Ratings Changes

APLD has been the topic of several research reports. B. Riley Financial upped their price target on Applied Digital to $53.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Northland Securities set a $56.00 target price on Applied Digital in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Lake Street Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $41.00 price objective on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised shares of Applied Digital to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Digital presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $37.00.

Applied Digital Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $32.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 4.82 and a current ratio of 4.82. The stock has a market cap of $8.01 billion, a PE ratio of -53.06 and a beta of 7.20.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Douglas S. Miller sold 10,000 shares of Applied Digital stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.54, for a total transaction of $385,400.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 200,859 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,741,105.86. The trade was a 4.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Wes Cummins sold 165,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.42, for a total transaction of $6,009,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 4,176,329 shares of the company's stock, valued at $152,101,902.18. This trade represents a 3.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 244,593 shares of company stock worth $9,003,278 in the last quarter. Insiders own 9.50% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Digital

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of APLD. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in Applied Digital during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new position in Applied Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. 65.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Applied Digital

Applied Digital NASDAQ: APLD is a technology company specializing in the development and operation of large-scale digital infrastructure and sustainable Bitcoin mining solutions. Through its integrated platform, the company designs, builds and manages turnkey data center facilities while also providing comprehensive hosting services for cloud, colocation and enterprise computing needs. Applied Digital's modular approach to facility design enables rapid deployment of capacity and streamlined integration of power, cooling and network connectivity.

In addition to its data center business, Applied Digital operates a network of Bitcoin mining sites that leverage vertically integrated capabilities, including hardware procurement, mining farm engineering, energy management and real-time performance monitoring.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.