AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Trading 5.5% Higher - Should You Buy?

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP - Get Free Report) traded up 5.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $342.36 and last traded at $338.60. 1,592,956 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 61% from the average session volume of 4,055,584 shares. The stock had previously closed at $321.09.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of AppLovin from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $100.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. BTIG Research raised their price objective on AppLovin from $202.00 to $291.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Daiwa America raised AppLovin from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Benchmark assumed coverage on AppLovin in a report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $375.00 price target for the company. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price objective on AppLovin from $385.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $338.06.

AppLovin Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $112.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.52, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 2.29. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $324.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $184.47. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.13 billion. AppLovin had a return on equity of 122.24% and a net margin of 26.85%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 38.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. Analysts expect that AppLovin Co. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AppLovin news, CMO Katie Kihorany Jansen sold 59,876 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.14, for a total transaction of $17,132,918.64. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 1,017,388 shares of the company's stock, valued at $291,115,402.32. The trade was a 5.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 17,925 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were 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 owns 405,676 shares in the company, valued at $143,670,155.40. This represents a 4.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 888,867 shares of company stock worth $284,773,062. Insiders own 14.69% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AppLovin

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APP. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of AppLovin by 64.9% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,942 shares of the company's stock worth $1,037,000 after buying an additional 3,126 shares during the last quarter. Second Half Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in AppLovin during the third quarter worth approximately $224,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings 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 period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of AppLovin by 2,200.4% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 523,149 shares of the company's stock valued at $68,297,000 after purchasing an additional 500,407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zacks Investment Management increased its stake in shares of AppLovin by 328.1% during the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 106,121 shares of the company's stock worth $13,854,000 after purchasing an additional 81,331 shares during the period. 41.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AppLovin Company Profile

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.