AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 18,790,000 shares, a decline of 14.1% from the October 15th total of 21,880,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,630,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.1 days. Approximately 9.4% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Activity

In other AppLovin news, CMO Katie Kihorany Jansen sold 59,876 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.14, for a total value of $17,132,918.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 1,017,388 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $291,115,402.32. The trade was a 5.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Dawson Alyssa Harvey sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.90, for a total transaction of $131,850.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $900,711.30. The trade was a 12.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 235,542 shares of company stock valued at $32,012,275 in the last quarter. 14.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AppLovin

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,946,135 shares of the company's stock worth $514,418,000 after purchasing an additional 449,241 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc lifted its position in AppLovin by 32.9% in the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 3,925 shares of the company's stock valued at $512,000 after buying an additional 972 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in AppLovin by 54.0% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 36,799 shares of the company's stock worth $4,805,000 after buying an additional 12,901 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of AppLovin by 92.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 318,992 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,643,000 after acquiring an additional 153,248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of AppLovin by 12.2% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 87,475 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,420,000 after acquiring an additional 9,530 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.85% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on APP shares. Loop Capital upped their target price on AppLovin from $181.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 price objective (up from $170.00) on shares of AppLovin in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Macquarie lifted their target price on shares of AppLovin from $150.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Daiwa America upgraded shares of AppLovin from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of AppLovin from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned 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 price target of $194.31.

AppLovin Trading Up 2.3 %

NASDAQ:APP traded up $6.60 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $291.09. The company had a trading volume of 24,367,480 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,402,378. AppLovin has a 1 year low of $35.79 and a 1 year high of $302.55. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. The company has a 50-day moving average of $159.14 and a 200 day moving average of $108.84. The company has a market cap of $97.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.86.

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