AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Given New $480.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley has raised AppLovin's price target from $460.00 to $480.00, indicating a potential upside of 10.89% from the stock's previous close.
• The company's earnings report revealed $2.26 earnings per share, surpassing estimates, with revenue of $1.26 billion, which shows a year-over-year increase of 77.1%.
• Several brokerages have given AppLovin an "overweight" or "buy" rating, contributing to a consensus target price of $453.52 amid mixed analyst ratings.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP - Get Free Report) had its price objective increased by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $460.00 to $480.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective indicates a potential upside of 10.89% from the stock's previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on APP. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of AppLovin from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on AppLovin from $405.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on AppLovin from $460.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, BTIG Research raised their price objective on AppLovin from $480.00 to $483.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $453.52.

AppLovin Stock Performance

APP traded up $42.30 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $432.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,137,321 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,175,311. AppLovin has a 52 week low of $66.16 and a 52 week high of $525.15. The company's 50-day moving average is $364.21 and its 200-day moving average is $338.59. The firm has a market cap of $146.48 billion, a PE ratio of 79.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 2.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.10, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 1.68.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.21. AppLovin had a net margin of 37.38% and a return on equity of 224.65%. The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 77.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that AppLovin will post 6.87 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.51, for a total transaction of $36,751,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,760,363 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,014,461,006.13. This represents a 3.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Herald Y. Chen sold 171,420 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.77, for a total value of $64,071,653.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 221,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,681,287.93. The trade was a 43.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,212,968 shares of company stock worth $455,062,980 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 13.66% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of AppLovin

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in AppLovin during the fourth quarter valued at $294,000. Wedbush Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AppLovin in the 4th quarter valued at $236,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in AppLovin by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 526 shares of the company's stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in AppLovin by 172.8% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 159,750 shares of the company's stock worth $51,732,000 after acquiring an additional 101,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in shares of AppLovin by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 4,470 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,448,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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