AppLovin Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:APP)

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders bought 56,988 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 13% compared to the typical daily volume of 50,296 call options.

AppLovin Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of APP stock opened at $325.78 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $367.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $252.97. AppLovin has a fifty-two week low of $57.40 and a fifty-two week high of $525.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $109.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.30.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AppLovin will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on APP shares. Daiwa America raised AppLovin from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Citigroup raised their target price on AppLovin from $460.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of AppLovin from $325.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $220.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, BTIG Research upped their target price on shares of AppLovin from $202.00 to $291.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AppLovin has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $452.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AppLovin news, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $422.21, for a total transaction of $18,999,450.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,914,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,230,527,667.32. This represents a 1.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Dawson Alyssa Harvey sold 500 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $406.27, for a total transaction of $203,135.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,684 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,715,508.68. This trade represents a 6.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 224,872 shares of company stock valued at $82,158,554 in the last quarter. Insiders own 14.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APP. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 622.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,893,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,030,462,000 after acquiring an additional 6,801,138 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of AppLovin in the 4th quarter valued at $1,781,922,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its stake in AppLovin by 5,421.4% in the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,084,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,322,682,000 after purchasing an additional 4,010,520 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in AppLovin during the 4th quarter worth about $828,138,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in AppLovin by 457.2% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,893,148 shares of the company’s stock worth $936,888,000 after buying an additional 2,373,885 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.