Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Acquires New Stake in AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in AppLovin during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in AppLovin in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Riverview Trust Co boosted its stake in AppLovin by 1,640.0% in the 4th quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 87 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Tucker Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in AppLovin in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Hemington Wealth Management boosted its stake in AppLovin by 78.4% in the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 91 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.85% of the company’s stock.

AppLovin Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of APP opened at $362.34 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $285.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $317.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.39. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $60.67 and a 52 week high of $525.15.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.38 billion. AppLovin had a net margin of 33.54% and a return on equity of 188.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 40.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that AppLovin Co. will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on APP. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $335.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of AppLovin from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of AppLovin from $375.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $525.00 price target on shares of AppLovin in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of AppLovin from $270.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AppLovin presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $433.85.

Insider Activity at AppLovin

In other AppLovin news, Director Dawson Alyssa Harvey sold 570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.12, for a total transaction of $211,538.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,312,448.72. This represents a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Herald Y. Chen sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $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 have sold a total of 1,119,470 shares of company stock valued at $409,752,180 over the last quarter. 14.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.