Merit Financial Group LLC Has $1.89 Million Stake in AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP - Free Report) by 657.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,147 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,203 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in AppLovin were worth $1,894,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in AppLovin by 38.2% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 105 shares of the company's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC increased its position in AppLovin by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the company's stock worth $590,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in AppLovin by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 526 shares of the company's stock worth $170,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP increased its position in AppLovin by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 3,776 shares of the company's stock worth $1,223,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC increased its position in AppLovin by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 5,236 shares of the company's stock worth $1,696,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at AppLovin

In other AppLovin news, CFO Matthew Stumpf sold 9,714 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.00, for a total transaction of $4,109,022.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 192,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $81,394,083. This trade represents a 4.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Herald Y. Chen sold 400,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $374.61, for a total value of $149,844,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 221,209 shares of the company's stock, valued at $82,867,103.49. The trade was a 64.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,228,968 shares of company stock worth $458,718,165 in the last quarter. 14.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on APP. Arete Research set a $200.00 target price on AppLovin in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on AppLovin from $355.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. FBN Securities began coverage on AppLovin in a report on Friday, March 28th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $385.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America raised their price target on AppLovin from $375.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Loop Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $650.00 price target on shares of AppLovin in a report on Friday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $436.10.

AppLovin Price Performance

APP stock traded up $3.75 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $417.89. 5,234,009 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,105,534. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. AppLovin Co. has a one year low of $60.67 and a one year high of $525.15. The company has a market cap of $141.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 92.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.53. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $308.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $331.62.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.22. AppLovin had a return on equity of 188.55% and a net margin of 33.54%. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. AppLovin's revenue for the quarter was up 40.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that AppLovin Co. will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current 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.