Pennington Partners & CO. LLC Invests $385,000 in AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)

Pennington Partners & CO. LLC bought a new position in shares of AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $385,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of AppLovin by 75.5% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,851,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,485,409,000 after purchasing an additional 5,957,885 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in AppLovin in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,781,922,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in AppLovin by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,519,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,462,144,000 after purchasing an additional 573,310 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 4,010,520 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of AppLovin by 68.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,018,990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $977,639,000 after buying an additional 1,222,074 shares in the last quarter. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AppLovin Stock Performance

NASDAQ:APP opened at $279.49 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $278.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $303.70. AppLovin Co. has a 1-year low of $60.67 and a 1-year high of $525.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 2.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.56, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.39.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts forecast that AppLovin Co. will post 6.87 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of AppLovin in a report on Monday, April 21st. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $560.00 target price on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of AppLovin from $475.00 to $270.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Arete Research set a $200.00 price objective on AppLovin in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Benchmark raised their target price on AppLovin from $375.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $415.15.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $422.21, for a total value of $18,999,450.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,914,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,230,527,667.32. This represents a 1.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Herald Y. Chen sold 200,000 shares of AppLovin 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 621,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $201,675,501.85. This trade represents a 24.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 306,900 shares of company stock valued at $106,401,841 in the last quarter. Insiders own 14.69% of the company’s stock.

AppLovin 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.