AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) Short Interest Up 12.9% in January

AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 14,100,000 shares, an increase of 12.9% from the January 15th total of 12,490,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,840,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 7.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

AppLovin Price Performance

APP stock opened at $510.13 on Monday. AppLovin has a 1 year low of $52.75 and a 1 year high of $525.15. The firm has a market cap of $171.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 154.59, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 2.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $351.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $231.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 2.41.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.61. AppLovin had a return on equity of 122.24% and a net margin of 26.85%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AppLovin will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AppLovin news, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 593,588 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.37, for a total value of $189,574,199.56. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 3,919,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,251,618,694.88. The trade was a 13.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 15,971 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.07, for a total value of $5,000,040.97. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 372,205 shares in the company, valued at $116,526,219.35. This represents a 4.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 828,991 shares of company stock valued at $267,640,144 over the last quarter. 14.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in AppLovin by 38.2% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 105 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in shares of AppLovin by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $590,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of AppLovin by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 526 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP grew its stake in shares of AppLovin by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 3,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,223,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of AppLovin by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 5,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. 41.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Daiwa Capital Markets raised AppLovin from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $280.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on AppLovin from $250.00 to $435.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on AppLovin from $440.00 to $630.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of AppLovin in a report on Thursday. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded AppLovin from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AppLovin currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $422.18.

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.