Banco BTG Pactual S.A. Purchases Shares of 963 AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)

Banco BTG Pactual S.A. acquired a new position in shares of AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $329,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of APP. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of AppLovin by 622.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,893,237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,030,462,000 after purchasing an additional 6,801,138 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in AppLovin in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,781,922,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in AppLovin by 5,421.4% in the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,084,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,322,682,000 after buying an additional 4,010,520 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AppLovin during the fourth quarter worth approximately $535,070,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC bought a new stake in shares of AppLovin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $414,462,000. 41.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on APP. Wells Fargo & Company set a $538.00 target price on shares of AppLovin and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $400.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 target price (up from $480.00) on shares of AppLovin in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on AppLovin from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Macquarie lifted their price objective on AppLovin from $270.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $438.28.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AppLovin news, Director Herald Y. Chen sold 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.65, for a total value 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 approximately $201,675,501.85. The trade was a 24.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $422.21, for a total transaction of $18,999,450.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,914,492 shares in the company, valued at $1,230,527,667.32. This trade represents a 1.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 306,900 shares of company stock valued at $106,401,841. 14.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AppLovin Trading Down 5.4 %

Shares of APP stock opened at $327.62 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $111.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.33. AppLovin Co. has a 12-month low of $60.67 and a 12-month high of $525.15. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $354.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $280.55.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last announced 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 return on equity of 188.55% and a net margin of 33.54%. Research analysts forecast that AppLovin Co. will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.