Maestria Partners LLC Makes New Investment in AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)

Maestria Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 43,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,230,000. AppLovin comprises approximately 5.6% of Maestria Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC increased its holdings in AppLovin by 622.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,893,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,030,462,000 after purchasing an additional 6,801,138 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AppLovin during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,781,922,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of AppLovin by 8.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,388,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $703,406,000 after buying an additional 428,419 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its holdings in AppLovin by 5,421.4% in the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,084,496 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,322,682,000 after acquiring an additional 4,010,520 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in AppLovin by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,946,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $514,418,000 after acquiring an additional 449,241 shares during the last quarter. 41.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

APP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of AppLovin from $440.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on AppLovin from $400.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Macquarie lifted their target price on AppLovin from $270.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on AppLovin from $220.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $250.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AppLovin presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $438.28.

AppLovin Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ APP opened at $297.03 on Thursday. AppLovin Co. has a 12-month low of $60.67 and a 12-month high of $525.15. The company has a market cap of $100.98 billion, a PE ratio of 65.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.33. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $354.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $272.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.61. AppLovin had a return on equity of 188.55% and a net margin of 33.54%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AppLovin Co. will post 6.87 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at AppLovin

In other AppLovin news, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.65, for a total value of $4,228,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 88,389 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,359,201.85. This represents a 16.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Herald Y. Chen sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.65, for a total transaction of $64,930,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 621,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,675,501.85. This represents a 24.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 306,900 shares of company stock worth $106,401,841 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 14.69% of the company’s stock.

About AppLovin

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.