Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Trading 16.1% Higher - Should You Buy?

Applied Digital Co. (NASDAQ:APLD - Get Free Report) shot up 16.1% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $9.24 and last traded at $9.18. 18,551,450 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 20% from the average session volume of 23,135,074 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.91.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on APLD. Northland Securities boosted their target price on Applied Digital from $12.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on Applied Digital from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Compass Point began coverage on Applied Digital in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $10.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $11.00 price objective on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, HC Wainwright upped their price objective on Applied Digital from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $12.11.

Applied Digital Trading Up 15.2 %

The business has a 50 day moving average of $8.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $7.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.27 and a beta of 4.77.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 14th. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.14) by $0.08. Applied Digital had a negative return on equity of 117.67% and a negative net margin of 127.86%. The business had revenue of $63.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $62.41 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.05) EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 51.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Applied Digital Co. will post -0.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Digital

In other news, Director Richard N. Nottenburg sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.20, for a total transaction of $460,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 334,317 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,075,716.40. This represents a 13.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Wes Cummins sold 200,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.20, for a total value of $1,840,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,875,955 shares in the company, valued at $35,658,786. This trade represents a 4.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 270,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,477,000 in the last ninety days. 11.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Applied Digital

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in Applied Digital by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 4,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Applied Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. US Bancorp DE bought a new position in Applied Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp bought a new position in Applied Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management bought a new position in Applied Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. 65.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Applied Digital Company Profile

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.