Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Shares Gap Up - Here's What Happened

Applied Digital Co. (NASDAQ:APLD - Get Free Report) shares gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $7.75, but opened at $7.93. Applied Digital shares last traded at $8.77, with a volume of 3,500,361 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on APLD. HC Wainwright upped their price objective on Applied Digital from $5.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. B. Riley boosted their target price on Applied Digital from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Lake Street Capital lifted their price target on Applied Digital from $7.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Roth Mkm reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $10.00 price target on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Craig Hallum raised their target price on Applied Digital from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $10.50.

Applied Digital Trading Up 18.2 %

The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $7.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.63. The firm has a market cap of $1.97 billion, a PE ratio of -7.80 and a beta of 4.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 9th. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.28) by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $60.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.85 million. Applied Digital had a negative net margin of 74.95% and a negative return on equity of 88.87%. The business's revenue was up 67.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.10) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Digital Co. will post -0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Richard N. Nottenburg sold 19,369 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.51, for a total transaction of $145,461.19. Following the sale, the director now owns 384,317 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,886,220.67. This represents a 4.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Douglas S. Miller sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.50, for a total value of $55,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 218,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,201,783. This represents a 4.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 119,369 shares of company stock worth $870,161 over the last quarter. 11.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Digital

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of APLD. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Applied Digital by 8.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 37,411 shares of the company's stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 3,040 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 15.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,018 shares of the company's stock worth $103,000 after acquiring an additional 3,182 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Digital by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 43,064 shares of the company's stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 5,423 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 99.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,071 shares of the company's stock worth $108,000 after acquiring an additional 6,507 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ICA Group Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Applied Digital by 56.8% during the 2nd quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,750 shares of the company's stock worth $112,000 after purchasing an additional 6,795 shares during the last quarter. 65.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Applied Digital

Applied Digital Corporation designs, develops, and operates datacenters in North America. Its datacenters provide digital infrastructure solutions to the high-performance computing industry. The company also provides artificial intelligence cloud services, high performance computing datacenter hosting, and crypto datacenter hosting services.