AppLovin’s (APP) Hold Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reissued by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports.

APP has been the subject of several other reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on AppLovin from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Macquarie boosted their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $270.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of AppLovin from $375.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of AppLovin from $315.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Benchmark initiated coverage on AppLovin in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $375.00 price target on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $378.35.

AppLovin Stock Performance

Shares of APP opened at $380.32 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $127.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 2.30. The company’s fifty day moving average is $347.30 and its 200-day moving average is $224.62. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. AppLovin has a 12 month low of $45.12 and a 12 month high of $417.64.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.61. AppLovin had a net margin of 26.85% and a return on equity of 122.24%. Equities analysts expect that AppLovin will post 4.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 17,925 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.15, for a total value of $6,348,138.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 405,676 shares in the company, valued at approximately $143,670,155.40. This trade represents a 4.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 593,588 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.37, for a total transaction of $189,574,199.56. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 3,919,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,251,618,694.88. This trade represents a 13.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 828,991 shares of company stock worth $267,640,144 in the last quarter. 14.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AppLovin

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of APP. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 10.5% in the third quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 10,820,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,382,307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,029,009 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in AppLovin by 622.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,893,237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,030,462,000 after buying an additional 6,801,138 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AppLovin in the 4th quarter valued at $1,781,922,000. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of AppLovin by 8.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,388,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $703,406,000 after acquiring an additional 428,419 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AppLovin by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,519,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,462,144,000 after acquiring an additional 573,310 shares during the period. 41.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.