Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Stock

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) had its price target hoisted by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $36.50 to $37.50 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 28.34% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Lake Street Capital upped their price target on Applied Digital from $70.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Zacks Research raised shares of Applied Digital from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Northland Securities set a $82.00 price objective on shares of Applied Digital and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $83.00 target price on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.15.

Applied Digital Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of Applied Digital stock opened at $29.22 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.10. The stock has a market cap of $8.52 billion, a PE ratio of -32.83 and a beta of 5.75. The company has a quick ratio of 4.01, a current ratio of 4.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.88. Applied Digital has a 12 month low of $13.16 and a 12 month high of $50.72.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported ($0.39) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.30). Applied Digital had a negative net margin of 37.78% and a negative return on equity of 16.42%. The company had revenue of $240.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $96.85 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.24) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 406.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Applied Digital will post -0.98 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Richard N. Nottenburg sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.15, for a total value of $2,336,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 133,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,154,724.70. This represents a 35.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Digital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Applied Digital by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,332 shares of the company’s stock valued at $523,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its stake in Applied Digital by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 9,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Applied Digital by 28.5% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the period. Finally, Krilogy Financial LLC grew its holdings in Applied Digital by 4.1% during the second quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 14,243 shares of the company’s stock worth $531,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.67% of the company’s stock.

About Applied Digital

Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) is a technology company specializing in the development and operation of large-scale digital infrastructure and sustainable Bitcoin mining solutions. Through its integrated platform, the company designs, builds and manages turnkey data center facilities while also providing comprehensive hosting services for cloud, colocation and enterprise computing needs. Applied Digital’s modular approach to facility design enables rapid deployment of capacity and streamlined integration of power, cooling and network connectivity.

In addition to its data center business, Applied Digital operates a network of Bitcoin mining sites that leverage vertically integrated capabilities, including hardware procurement, mining farm engineering, energy management and real-time performance monitoring.