AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) Short Interest Up 11.4% in March

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 24,650,000 shares, a growth of 11.4% from the March 15th total of 22,120,000 shares. Approximately 15.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 4,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.7 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Matthew Stumpf sold 2,775 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.30, for a total transaction of $175,657.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 362,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,931,311.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other AppLovin news, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 2,890 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.76, for a total value of $166,926.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 546,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,569,305.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Matthew Stumpf sold 2,775 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.30, for a total value of $175,657.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 362,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,931,311.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 61,215 shares of company stock worth $4,416,815. 12.43% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of APP. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of AppLovin by 13.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the period. DeDora Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of AppLovin by 1.8% during the first quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. now owns 9,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $664,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of AppLovin by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,337 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in AppLovin by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 13,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $545,000 after buying an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its holdings in AppLovin by 16.5% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,000 after buying an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

APP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TheStreet raised AppLovin from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on AppLovin from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group raised their price target on AppLovin from $46.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. BTIG Research raised their price target on AppLovin from $65.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, HSBC initiated coverage on AppLovin in a research report on Monday, December 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $53.20 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.75.

AppLovin Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of AppLovin stock traded up $0.80 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $72.23. 1,016,862 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,139,180. The stock has a market cap of $24.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.90. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $63.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.21. AppLovin has a 12-month low of $15.41 and a 12-month high of $79.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 1.71.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $953.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.66 million. AppLovin had a net margin of 10.84% and a return on equity of 24.69%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.21) EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that AppLovin will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.