Benchmark Raises AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Price Target to $525.00

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) had its price objective upped by equities researchers at Benchmark from $375.00 to $525.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Benchmark’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 2.91% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on APP. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on AppLovin from $250.00 to $435.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised AppLovin from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $280.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of AppLovin in a report on Thursday. Macquarie raised their price objective on AppLovin from $270.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on AppLovin from $440.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $422.18.

AppLovin Trading Up 8.2 %

Shares of APP stock opened at $510.13 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $351.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $229.34. The company has a market cap of $171.19 billion, a PE ratio of 154.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 2.30. AppLovin has a fifty-two week low of $52.75 and a fifty-two week high of $525.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 2.41.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.61. AppLovin had a return on equity of 122.24% and a net margin of 26.85%. Equities analysts predict that AppLovin will post 4.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other AppLovin news, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 593,588 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.37, for a total transaction of $189,574,199.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 3,919,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,251,618,694.88. The trade was a 13.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Craig Scott Billings sold 18,000 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.94, for a total value of $5,740,920.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $952,673.78. This trade represents a 85.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 828,991 shares of company stock worth $267,640,144 in the last three months. Company insiders own 14.69% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AppLovin

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in AppLovin during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in AppLovin during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Riverview Trust Co boosted its stake in AppLovin by 1,640.0% during the 4th quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 87 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in AppLovin during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Hemington Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of AppLovin by 78.4% in the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 91 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.85% of the company’s stock.

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.