The Goldman Sachs Group Issues Positive Forecast for AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Stock Price

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP - Get Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by equities researchers at The Goldman Sachs Group from $335.00 to $435.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "neutral" rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group's price objective indicates a potential upside of 17.98% from the company's current price.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on APP. Loop Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on AppLovin from $386.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group increased their price objective on AppLovin from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. HSBC set a $436.00 target price on AppLovin and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 price target (down from $560.00) on shares of AppLovin in a report on Thursday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $433.85.

AppLovin Stock Performance

NASDAQ APP traded up $20.79 on Friday, reaching $368.69. The stock had a trading volume of 2,927,733 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,993,743. The stock has a market cap of $125.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.39. AppLovin has a 12-month low of $60.67 and a 12-month high of $525.15. The business's 50-day moving average price is $276.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $313.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 2.41.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.38 billion. AppLovin had a net margin of 33.54% and a return on equity of 188.55%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 40.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that AppLovin will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Herald Y. Chen sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.65, for a total value of $64,930,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 621,209 shares in the company, valued at $201,675,501.85. This represents a 24.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 17,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.65, for a total transaction of $4,228,875.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 88,389 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,359,201.85. This trade represents a 16.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 306,900 shares of company stock worth $106,401,841. Company insiders own 14.69% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AppLovin

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of AppLovin by 75.5% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,851,122 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,485,409,000 after acquiring an additional 5,957,885 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new position in AppLovin in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,781,922,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings in AppLovin by 5,421.4% in the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,084,496 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,322,682,000 after purchasing an additional 4,010,520 shares in the last quarter. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AppLovin by 117,664.4% during the 1st quarter. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,702,694 shares of the company's stock worth $716,133,000 after purchasing an additional 2,700,399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of AppLovin during the fourth quarter worth about $828,138,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.85% of the company's stock.

AppLovin Company Profile

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.