Jefferies Financial Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Stock

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) had its target price lifted by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $270.00 to $400.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price suggests a potential upside of 21.74% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on APP. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of AppLovin from $260.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Benchmark reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $66.00 target price on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of AppLovin from $185.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on AppLovin from $250.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on AppLovin in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $400.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $265.57.

AppLovin Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ APP opened at $328.56 on Tuesday. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $189.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $121.08. AppLovin has a 52-week low of $35.79 and a 52-week high of $344.77. The company has a market cap of $110.26 billion, a PE ratio of 99.56, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 1.86.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 122.24% and a net margin of 26.85%. The business had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 38.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that AppLovin will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at AppLovin

In related news, CFO Matthew Stumpf sold 21,101 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.67, for a total transaction of $7,019,669.67. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 213,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $70,970,487.12. The trade was a 9.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Dawson Alyssa Harvey sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.90, for a total value of $131,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,247 shares in the company, valued at $900,711.30. The trade was a 12.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 854,065 shares of company stock valued at $233,072,408 in the last 90 days. 14.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AppLovin

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Second Half Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AppLovin in the 3rd quarter valued at $224,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 500,407 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in AppLovin by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 10,820,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,382,307,000 after buying an additional 1,029,009 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,440,000 after acquiring an additional 2,385 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE purchased a new position in shares of AppLovin in the 3rd quarter valued at about $7,086,000. 41.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.