AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Shares Up 7% on Analyst Upgrade

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP - Get Free Report) rose 7% on Friday after Benchmark raised their price target on the stock from $375.00 to $525.00. Benchmark currently has a buy rating on the stock. AppLovin traded as high as $501.19 and last traded at $504.85. Approximately 3,487,812 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 26% from the average daily volume of 4,716,120 shares. The stock had previously closed at $471.67.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on APP. Macquarie upped their price target on AppLovin from $270.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Daiwa America raised shares of AppLovin from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of AppLovin from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $280.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of AppLovin from $250.00 to $435.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Loop Capital increased their price target on AppLovin from $385.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $422.18.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 17,925 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.15, for a total transaction of $6,348,138.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 405,676 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $143,670,155.40. The trade was a 4.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 593,588 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.37, for a total value of $189,574,199.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 3,919,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,251,618,694.88. This trade represents a 13.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 828,991 shares of company stock worth $267,640,144 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 14.69% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AppLovin

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of APP. FMR LLC grew its holdings in AppLovin by 622.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,893,237 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,030,462,000 after buying an additional 6,801,138 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of AppLovin in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,781,922,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its stake in shares of AppLovin by 5,421.4% in the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,084,496 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,322,682,000 after acquiring an additional 4,010,520 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in AppLovin during the fourth quarter worth about $828,138,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in AppLovin by 457.2% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,893,148 shares of the company's stock worth $936,888,000 after purchasing an additional 2,373,885 shares in the last quarter. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AppLovin Stock Up 8.2 %

The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $351.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $231.50. The stock has a market cap of $171.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 154.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 2.30. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.61. AppLovin had a return on equity of 122.24% and a net margin of 26.85%. As a group, research analysts forecast that AppLovin Co. will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.