Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Hold Rating for AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP)

Key Points

• AppLovin's stock received a "hold" rating from Needham & Company, while other analysts have varied views, with price targets ranging from $425 to $620.
• The company reported a quarterly EPS of $2.26, exceeding estimates, but its revenue of $1.26 billion fell short of expectations.
• Insider activity includes significant stock sales by CEO Arash Adam Foroughi and Director Herald Y. Chen, with insiders having sold over $538 million worth of shares recently.

Needham & Company LLC restated their hold rating on shares of AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP - Free Report) in a research note published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of AppLovin from $470.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of AppLovin from $430.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $620.00 price objective on shares of AppLovin in a report on Thursday, August 7th. BTIG Research raised their price objective on AppLovin from $480.00 to $483.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on AppLovin from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AppLovin presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $478.81.

AppLovin Stock Performance

Shares of AppLovin stock traded up $20.81 on Tuesday, hitting $483.75. 5,893,324 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,618,987. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.01, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 2.74. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $381.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $346.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.63 billion, a PE ratio of 67.00, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 2.43. AppLovin has a 1 year low of $82.51 and a 1 year high of $525.15.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. AppLovin had a return on equity of 252.67% and a net margin of 45.72%.The firm's revenue was up 77.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AppLovin will post 6.87 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Herald Y. Chen sold 200,000 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.69, for a total transaction of $92,938,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 381,929 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $177,478,587.01. The trade was a 34.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.57, for a total transaction of $13,127,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 3,360,104 shares in the company, valued at $1,470,280,707.28. This trade represents a 0.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,236,152 shares of company stock valued at $545,240,378 in the last quarter. 13.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AppLovin

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of APP. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC grew its stake in AppLovin by 19.6% in the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 24,891 shares of the company's stock worth $8,714,000 after acquiring an additional 4,074 shares in the last quarter. MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH bought a new stake in AppLovin during the 2nd quarter valued at $288,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in AppLovin during the 2nd quarter valued at $215,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AppLovin in the 2nd quarter worth $1,261,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of AppLovin during the 2nd quarter worth $219,000. 41.85% of the stock is 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.