AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Given New $480.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Key Points

• Wells Fargo & Company raised AppLovin's price target from $405.00 to $480.00, indicating a potential upside of 8.50% from its current price.
• The stock has received an "overweight" rating from Wells Fargo and a "strong buy" rating from Wedbush, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" across analysts.
• AppLovin reported a 163% increase in EPS year-over-year with earnings of $2.26 per share, surpassing analyst expectations.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP - Get Free Report) had its price target hoisted by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $405.00 to $480.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 5.83% from the stock's previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on APP. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 target price (down from $560.00) on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on AppLovin from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $525.00 price objective on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on AppLovin from $460.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AppLovin has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $472.33.

AppLovin Trading Up 3.7%

AppLovin stock traded up $16.21 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $453.55. 3,712,315 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,189,654. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.10. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $365.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $339.24. AppLovin has a fifty-two week low of $72.81 and a fifty-two week high of $525.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $153.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.82, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 2.43.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.21. AppLovin had a return on equity of 274.45% and a net margin of 45.72%. The company had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 77.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that AppLovin will post 6.87 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other AppLovin news, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 34,766 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.64, for a total value of $12,294,648.24. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 70,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,069,185.96. This represents a 32.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,760,363 shares in the company, valued at $1,014,461,006.13. This trade represents a 3.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,212,968 shares of company stock worth $455,062,980. Company insiders own 13.66% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AppLovin

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new position in shares of AppLovin during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA bought a new position in AppLovin during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in AppLovin in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Atala Financial Inc bought a new stake in shares of AppLovin in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Hoey Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AppLovin during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About AppLovin

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.