AQR Capital Management LLC Trims Position in AppLovin Corporation $APP

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC sold 82,937 shares of AppLovin Corporation, reducing its holdings by 29.9%, leaving it with 194,783 shares valued at nearly $49 million.
• Several hedge funds increased their stakes in AppLovin, with Dynasty Wealth Management raising its holdings by an astonishing 117,664.4% during the same quarter.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook on AppLovin, with the stock receiving multiple buy ratings and a consensus target price of $482.86 amid a strong earnings performance.

AQR Capital Management LLC reduced its position in AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP - Free Report) by 29.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 194,783 shares of the company's stock after selling 82,937 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 0.06% of AppLovin worth $48,951,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in shares of AppLovin during the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of AppLovin during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AppLovin during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in AppLovin in the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Finally, SouthState Corp purchased a new position in AppLovin in the 1st quarter worth $29,000. 41.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 90,000 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $421.04, for a total transaction of $37,893,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,620,054 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,103,147,536.16. The trade was a 3.32% 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 AppLovin stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 3,360,104 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,158,288 shares of company stock valued at $515,437,023. Corporate insiders own 13.66% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

APP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BTIG Research raised their target price on AppLovin from $480.00 to $483.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on AppLovin from $480.00 to $491.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Zacks Research upgraded AppLovin to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $620.00 price target on shares of AppLovin in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $482.86.

AppLovin Trading Up 2.0%

AppLovin stock traded up $11.17 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $558.21. The company had a trading volume of 7,330,174 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,061,345. AppLovin Corporation has a 1-year low of $85.23 and a 1-year high of $558.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.74, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.01. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $406.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $347.99. The stock has a market cap of $188.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 2.44.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.21. AppLovin had a net margin of 45.72% and a return on equity of 252.67%. The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.89 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 77.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that AppLovin Corporation will post 6.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AppLovin 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.