Davis Selected Advisers Increases Stake in AppLovin Corporation $APP

Key Points

• Davis Selected Advisers increased its AppLovin stake by 10.9% in Q4 to 247,981 shares, valued at about $167.1 million (roughly 0.07% of the company).
• Significant insider selling has occurred recently: Director Eduardo Vivas sold 163,910 shares for ~$74.33 million and CEO Arash Foroughi sold 40,704 shares for ~$18.72 million, with insiders offloading 365,244 shares (~$169.6 million) over the past 90 days while retaining 13.66% ownership.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive view — the consensus rating is a Moderate Buy with a $673.25 average target price (majority of analysts rate the stock Buy).

Davis Selected Advisers increased its position in AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP - Free Report) by 10.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 247,981 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 24,407 shares during the quarter. Davis Selected Advisers owned about 0.07% of AppLovin worth $167,098,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in AppLovin in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in AppLovin in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Activest Wealth Management increased its holdings in AppLovin by 760.0% in the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 43 shares of the company's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in AppLovin in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in AppLovin by 58.6% in the 3rd quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 46 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.85% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on APP shares. Argus started coverage on AppLovin in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $520.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $700.00 target price on shares of AppLovin in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on AppLovin from $740.00 to $660.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Evercore reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of AppLovin in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Arete Research set a $340.00 target price on AppLovin and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $673.25.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Eduardo Vivas sold 163,910 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.49, for a total transaction of $74,331,545.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,969,382 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,160,545,043.18. This represents a 2.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 40,704 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.85, for a total value of $18,717,734.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,430,414 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,117,625,877.90. This trade represents a 1.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 365,244 shares of company stock valued at $169,584,607. 13.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AppLovin Stock Performance

NASDAQ:APP opened at $460.00 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $437.77 and a 200 day moving average of $536.27. The company has a market capitalization of $155.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.18, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 2.37. AppLovin Corporation has a 1-year low of $286.85 and a 1-year high of $745.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 3.32 and a quick ratio of 3.32.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. AppLovin had a return on equity of 245.64% and a net margin of 57.42%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 66.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.73 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AppLovin Corporation will post 15.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About AppLovin

AppLovin Corporation is a Palo Alto–based mobile technology company that provides software and services to help app developers grow and monetize their businesses. The company operates a data-driven advertising and marketing platform that connects app publishers and advertisers, delivering tools for user acquisition, monetization, analytics and creative optimization. AppLovin's technology is integrated into a broad set of mobile applications through software development kits (SDKs) and ad products designed to maximize revenue and engagement for developers.

Key components of AppLovin's offering include an ad mediation and exchange platform that enables publishers to manage and monetize inventory across multiple demand sources, and a user-acquisition platform that helps advertisers target and scale campaigns.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.