AQR Capital Management LLC Sells 169,417 Shares of AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)

AQR Capital Management LLC cut its stake in shares of AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) by 37.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 277,720 shares of the company’s stock after selling 169,417 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.08% of AppLovin worth $89,934,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of AppLovin by 75.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,851,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,485,409,000 after acquiring an additional 5,957,885 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in AppLovin during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,781,922,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its position in AppLovin by 5,421.4% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,084,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,322,682,000 after purchasing an additional 4,010,520 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of AppLovin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $828,138,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of AppLovin by 457.2% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,893,148 shares of the company’s stock valued at $936,888,000 after buying an additional 2,373,885 shares in the last quarter. 41.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on AppLovin from $460.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Bank of America increased their target price on AppLovin from $375.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group dropped their price target on AppLovin from $630.00 to $450.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 price objective on shares of AppLovin in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on AppLovin from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $415.15.

AppLovin Stock Performance

Shares of APP opened at $269.31 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $91.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.39. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $280.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $302.78. AppLovin Co. has a 12 month low of $60.67 and a 12 month high of $525.15. 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 issued its 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 188.55% and a net margin of 33.54%. Research analysts anticipate that AppLovin Co. will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.65, for a total transaction of $4,228,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 88,389 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,359,201.85. The trade was a 16.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 44,400 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.89, for a total transaction of $18,243,516.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,869,492 shares in the company, valued at $1,179,045,567.88. This represents a 1.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 306,900 shares of company stock valued at $106,401,841 in the last ninety days. 14.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.