Morgan Stanley Boosts AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Price Target to $420.00

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP - Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $350.00 to $420.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective points to a potential upside of 22.21% from the stock's current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 price objective (down from $560.00) on shares of AppLovin in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $575.00 to $425.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Loop Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of AppLovin in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of AppLovin from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Monday, April 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $416.60.

AppLovin Price Performance

Shares of APP traded up $40.21 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $343.67. 7,702,070 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,000,157. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. The company's 50-day moving average price is $275.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $308.12. The company has a market cap of $116.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.39. AppLovin has a 52-week low of $60.67 and a 52-week high of $525.15.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.38 billion. AppLovin had a net margin of 33.54% and a return on equity of 188.55%. AppLovin's revenue for the quarter was up 40.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that AppLovin will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at AppLovin

In related news, Director Herald Y. Chen sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.65, for a total transaction of $64,930,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 621,209 shares of the company's stock, valued at $201,675,501.85. This represents a 24.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.65, for a total value of $4,228,875.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 88,389 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,359,201.85. This trade represents a 16.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 306,900 shares of company stock worth $106,401,841 in the last 90 days. 14.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of AppLovin by 75.5% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,851,122 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,485,409,000 after acquiring an additional 5,957,885 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AppLovin during the fourth quarter worth about $1,781,922,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position in shares of AppLovin by 5,421.4% in the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,084,496 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,322,682,000 after buying an additional 4,010,520 shares during the last quarter. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AppLovin by 117,664.4% during the first quarter. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,702,694 shares of the company's stock valued at $716,133,000 after buying an additional 2,700,399 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in AppLovin during the fourth quarter worth approximately $828,138,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.85% of the company's stock.

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.

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