AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Rating Increased to Strong Sell at Arete Research

Arete Research upgraded shares of AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP - Free Report) to a strong sell rating in a research report report published on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on AppLovin from $460.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on AppLovin from $400.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $220.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Daiwa America upgraded shares of AppLovin from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, BTIG Research upped their price target on shares of AppLovin from $202.00 to $291.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AppLovin presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $452.29.

AppLovin Price Performance

Shares of APP traded up $10.85 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $270.48. The company had a trading volume of 14,581,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,030,862. 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 has a 12-month low of $59.30 and a 12-month high of $525.15. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $363.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $261.76. The company has a market capitalization of $90.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.58, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.33.

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AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.61. AppLovin had a net margin of 33.54% and a return on equity of 188.55%. Research analysts expect that AppLovin will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at AppLovin

In other news, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 1,676 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $356.39, for a total transaction of $597,309.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,058,635 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,090,066,927.65. The trade was a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Herald Y. Chen sold 200,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.65, for a total value of $64,930,000.00. Following the sale, the director now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 406,447 shares of company stock worth $140,537,281 over the last quarter. 14.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AppLovin

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 6,801,138 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in AppLovin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,781,922,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in AppLovin by 5,421.4% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,084,496 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,322,682,000 after buying an additional 4,010,520 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AppLovin during the fourth quarter worth approximately $828,138,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of AppLovin by 457.2% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,893,148 shares of the company's stock worth $936,888,000 after acquiring an additional 2,373,885 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.85% of the company's stock.

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.