Benchmark Initiates Coverage on AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP)

Benchmark started coverage on shares of AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) in a report released on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $375.00 price target on the stock. Benchmark’s price objective points to a potential upside of 13.91% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on APP. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 target price (up from $170.00) on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Macquarie upped their target price on AppLovin from $270.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Daiwa America raised AppLovin from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. BTIG Research increased their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $202.00 to $291.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of AppLovin from $250.00 to $435.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $330.35.

AppLovin Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ APP opened at $329.20 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $315.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $178.09. The stock has a market cap of $110.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 99.76, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 2.29. AppLovin has a twelve month low of $38.60 and a twelve month high of $417.64. 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 (NASDAQ:APP) last released its 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that AppLovin will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AppLovin

In other AppLovin news, Director Dawson Alyssa Harvey sold 500 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $406.27, for a total transaction of $203,135.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,684 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,715,508.68. The trade was a 6.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Katie Kihorany Jansen sold 59,876 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 1,017,388 shares in the company, valued at $291,115,402.32. This trade represents a 5.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 888,867 shares of company stock worth $284,773,062 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 14.69% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AppLovin

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in APP. Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 8,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,730,000 after purchasing an additional 908 shares during the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in AppLovin during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,237,000. Diversified Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,630,000 after buying an additional 1,072 shares during the period. Silverleafe Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of AppLovin in the fourth quarter worth approximately $963,000. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 16,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,430,000 after acquiring an additional 3,520 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.