Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Buy” Rating for AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP)

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $700.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target suggests a potential upside of 53.24% from the company’s current price.

APP has been the subject of several other research reports. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of AppLovin from $721.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on AppLovin from $425.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of AppLovin from $800.00 to $860.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $705.00 price target on shares of AppLovin and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $680.09.

AppLovin Stock Performance

Shares of APP opened at $456.81 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $608.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $571.60. AppLovin has a 52-week low of $200.50 and a 52-week high of $745.61. The company has a quick ratio of 3.25, a current ratio of 3.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38. The company has a market capitalization of $154.38 billion, a PE ratio of 55.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 2.49.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $3.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.35. AppLovin had a return on equity of 258.49% and a net margin of 51.27%.The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.73 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 66.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that AppLovin will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 7,609 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $657.13, for a total value of $5,000,102.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 277,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $182,097,294.30. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 27,143 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.38, for a total value of $14,803,249.34. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 3,323,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,812,669,143.78. This trade represents a 0.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 187,786 shares of company stock worth $100,914,925 in the last three months. 13.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of AppLovin

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AppLovin by 39.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,954,458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,930,776,000 after purchasing an additional 7,051,663 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in AppLovin by 111.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,852,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,516,471,000 after acquiring an additional 6,237,051 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of AppLovin during the fourth quarter valued at $2,040,321,000. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AppLovin in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,456,108,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in AppLovin by 55.2% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,886,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,792,355,000 after acquiring an additional 1,381,970 shares during the last quarter. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AppLovin News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting AppLovin this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat on earnings and showed big revenue growth: AppLovin reported $3.24 EPS (vs. $2.89 consensus) and revenue of $1.66B, up ~66% year?over?year, with very strong margins. This underpins the company’s high profitability profile. AppLovin Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and data services flagged the beat and strong margin expansion (profit rise and revenue surge), supporting the beat narrative and validating execution on monetization. AppLovin (APP) Q4 Earnings and Revenues Surpass Estimates
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO commentary sought to calm investor concerns about AI disruption, downplaying immediate AI risk to AppLovin’s advertising platform — a mixed signal that may reassure some long?term investors. AppLovin CEO downplays risks from AI
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent volatility also reflects non?operational news: a prior short?seller report was retracted/apologized for, which caused a large intraday swing in APP earlier this week; that episode adds noise to current price moves. Can Applovin Stock Keep Up its Post-Earnings Win Streak?
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction was negative despite the beat — shares slid as some outlets and investors focused on signs of tepid advertising demand and increased competition in the ad market, creating concern over revenue sustainability. AppLovin misses quarterly revenue estimates amid advertising competition
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage noted shares dipped even though Q1 guidance/readouts were in parts constructive — investors appear to be weighing macro/advertising headwinds and valuation (APP’s P/E is elevated vs. peers), which pressured the stock. AppLovin dips despite Q4 results, Q1 outlook topping expectations

About AppLovin

AppLovin Corporation is a Palo Alto–based mobile technology company that provides software and services to help app developers grow and monetize their businesses. The company operates a data-driven advertising and marketing platform that connects app publishers and advertisers, delivering tools for user acquisition, monetization, analytics and creative optimization. AppLovin’s technology is integrated into a broad set of mobile applications through software development kits (SDKs) and ad products designed to maximize revenue and engagement for developers.

Key components of AppLovin’s offering include an ad mediation and exchange platform that enables publishers to manage and monetize inventory across multiple demand sources, and a user-acquisition platform that helps advertisers target and scale campaigns.