Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Shares Down 4.1% – Here’s Why

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) shares dropped 4.1% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $27.04 and last traded at $27.14. 11,618,541 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 50% from the average session volume of 23,170,385 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.31.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

APLD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price target on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Applied Digital from $36.50 to $37.50 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Lake Street Capital raised their price objective on Applied Digital from $70.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Lucid Cap Mkts raised Applied Digital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.15.

Applied Digital Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $7.69 billion, a PE ratio of -29.64 and a beta of 5.72. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 4.01 and a current ratio of 4.01.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported ($0.39) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.30). The company had revenue of $240.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $96.85 million. Applied Digital had a negative net margin of 37.78% and a negative return on equity of 16.42%. The company’s revenue was up 406.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.24) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Applied Digital Corporation will post -1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Applied Digital

In related news, Director Richard Nottenburg sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.15, for a total transaction of $2,336,250.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 133,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,154,724.70. This represents a 35.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Situational Awareness LP grew its position in shares of Applied Digital by 14.1% during the 2nd quarter. Situational Awareness LP now owns 15,384,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $574,000 after acquiring an additional 1,906,178 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Applied Digital by 3,718.0% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 11,121,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $414,848,000 after purchasing an additional 10,830,623 shares during the period. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC purchased a new position in Applied Digital during the second quarter worth approximately $312,349,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Applied Digital by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,285,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,151,000 after purchasing an additional 304,228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Applied Digital during the fourth quarter worth approximately $138,380,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.67% of the company’s stock.

About Applied Digital

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) develops and operates digital infrastructure designed to support high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI) and other compute-intensive applications. The company provides data center capacity and related services to customers that require substantial computing power, connectivity and energy resources.

The company’s facilities are designed to support advanced computing workloads, including AI model development, cloud computing and digital asset-related applications.