Stifel Nicolaus Boosts AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) Price Target to $85.00

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) had its price objective lifted by stock analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $65.00 to $85.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 20.76% from the company’s current price.

APP has been the subject of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Daiwa Capital Markets started coverage on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Monday, April 15th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of AppLovin from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. BTIG Research upped their price target on shares of AppLovin from $65.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on shares of AppLovin from $67.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AppLovin currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.07.

AppLovin Price Performance

Shares of APP opened at $70.39 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $67.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.56. AppLovin has a fifty-two week low of $15.70 and a fifty-two week high of $79.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.07 billion, a PE ratio of 70.57, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a current ratio of 1.71.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.14. AppLovin had a net margin of 10.84% and a return on equity of 24.69%. The firm had revenue of $953.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.66 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.21) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 35.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that AppLovin will post 2.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AppLovin news, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 2,890 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.76, for a total transaction of $166,926.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 546,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,569,305.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 2,890 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.76, for a total transaction of $166,926.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 546,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,569,305.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 362,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,931,311.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 61,215 shares of company stock valued at $4,416,815 over the last 90 days. 12.43% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AppLovin

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in AppLovin during the first quarter worth approximately $497,488,000. Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of AppLovin during the fourth quarter worth approximately $165,057,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of AppLovin by 8.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,099,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $723,245,000 after acquiring an additional 1,411,453 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of AppLovin by 4,805.9% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,402,657 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,050,000 after acquiring an additional 1,374,066 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AppLovin during the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,973,000. 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.