Macquarie Group Ltd. Sells 117,455 Shares of AppLovin Corporation $APP

Key Points

• Macquarie Group Ltd. reduced its AppLovin stake by 58% in the fourth quarter, selling 117,455 shares and leaving it with 85,044 shares valued at about $57.3 million.
• Other institutional investors remain heavily involved in APP, with firms like Vanguard, State Street, and Norges Bank either increasing holdings or initiating new positions; overall, institutions own 41.85% of the stock.
• AppLovin has seen notable insider selling, including recent sales by CFO Matthew Stumpf and Director Eduardo Vivas, while analysts still mostly rate the stock a Buy/Overweight with a consensus price target of $669.62.

Macquarie Group Ltd. cut its holdings in shares of AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP - Free Report) by 58.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 85,044 shares of the company's stock after selling 117,455 shares during the quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd.'s holdings in AppLovin were worth $57,304,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in APP. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in AppLovin by 39.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,954,458 shares of the company's stock worth $17,930,776,000 after buying an additional 7,051,663 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 111.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,852,466 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,516,471,000 after purchasing an additional 6,237,051 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of AppLovin in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,040,321,000. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new stake in shares of AppLovin in the 3rd quarter valued at about $743,899,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 46.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,374,460 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,706,144,000 after purchasing an additional 756,660 shares during the period. 41.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Matthew Stumpf sold 9,052 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total value of $5,431,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 177,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $106,470,000. This represents a 4.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Eduardo Vivas sold 163,910 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.49, for a total transaction of $74,331,545.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,969,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,160,545,043.18. This trade represents a 2.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 389,924 shares of company stock worth $187,404,946 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.66% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of AppLovin from $560.00 to $571.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of AppLovin in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Argus assumed coverage on shares of AppLovin in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $520.00 target price on the stock. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of AppLovin in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of AppLovin from $740.00 to $660.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $669.62.

Key Headlines Impacting AppLovin

Here are the key news stories impacting AppLovin this week:

• Negative Sentiment: CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold additional AppLovin shares on June 10, 11, and 12, including several transactions worth millions of dollars, which may pressure investor confidence in the near term. SEC filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent commentary from analysts and financial media remained constructive overall, with one piece arguing AppLovin’s selloff looks detached from fundamentals and highlighting strong Q1 revenue, EBITDA, and free cash flow growth. Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Separately, coverage noted that brokers still generally view AppLovin as an attractive stock, though these recommendations are often considered lagging indicators and may not move the shares much on their own. Article

AppLovin Stock Up 3.8%

Shares of APP opened at $496.77 on Friday. AppLovin Corporation has a 52 week low of $320.00 and a 52 week high of $745.61. The firm has a market cap of $166.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 2.45. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $482.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $520.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 3.24 and a current ratio of 3.24.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.12. AppLovin had a net margin of 64.29% and a return on equity of 219.37%. The business had revenue of $1.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.67 EPS. AppLovin's quarterly revenue was up 58.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that AppLovin Corporation will post 15.86 earnings per share for the current year.

AppLovin Profile

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.

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