Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Shares Up 8.2% - Here's Why

Key Points

• Applied Digital Corporation's stock surged 8.2% during mid-day trading, reaching a high of $16.66 before closing at $16.45, despite a significant decline in trading volume.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for APLD, with JMP Securities and Lake Street Capital both setting new targets at $18.00, reflecting increasing investor confidence.
• Insiders, including the CFO and CEO, have sold substantial shares of the company recently, indicating notable insider activity, which could be a signal for investors to monitor.

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD - Get Free Report)'s stock price rose 8.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $16.66 and last traded at $16.45. Approximately 18,132,510 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 51% from the average daily volume of 36,801,891 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.20.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Compass Point upgraded shares of Applied Digital from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $13.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Citizens Jmp raised Applied Digital to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $12.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. JMP Securities boosted their price target on Applied Digital from $12.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Applied Digital from $12.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, HC Wainwright increased 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $15.64.

Applied Digital Stock Up 8.7%

The firm has a market capitalization of $4.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.14 and a beta of 6.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $13.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick 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 results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $38.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $42.86 million. Applied Digital had a negative return on equity of 50.03% and a negative net margin of 107.22%.The business's revenue was up 41.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.14) EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Digital Corporation will post -0.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Applied Digital

In other Applied Digital news, CFO Mohammad Saidal Lavanw Mohmand sold 75,000 shares of the business'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 $1,144,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 201,800 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,079,468. The trade was a 27.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard N. Nottenburg sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.26, for a total transaction of $305,200.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 297,987 shares in the company, valued at $4,547,281.62. This trade represents a 6.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 506,250 shares of company stock valued at $7,713,675 over the last ninety days. 11.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Applied Digital by 48.4% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 40,734 shares of the company's stock valued at $410,000 after buying an additional 13,294 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Applied Digital during the second quarter valued at $2,062,000. Marex Group plc bought a new position in Applied Digital in the second quarter valued at about $383,000. Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new position in Applied Digital in the second quarter valued at about $894,000. Finally, Tactive Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Digital in the second quarter worth about $1,695,000. Institutional investors own 65.67% of the company's stock.

Applied Digital Company Profile

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.