Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Trading Down 6.9% Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) traded down 6.9% on Wednesday after Zacks Research downgraded the stock from a hold rating to a strong sell rating. The company traded as low as $26.86 and last traded at $26.87. 12,713,028 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 46% from the average session volume of 23,580,053 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.85.

Several other research firms also recently commented on APLD. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Applied Digital from $36.50 to $37.50 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Compass Point reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Lucid Cap Mkts upgraded shares of Applied Digital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Lake Street Capital boosted their price objective on Applied Digital from $70.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.15.

Insider Transactions at Applied Digital

In other Applied Digital news, Director Richard N. Nottenburg sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.15, for a total value of $2,336,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 133,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,154,724.70. This trade represents a 35.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 9.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Digital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Applied Digital by 36.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,168,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $592,601,000 after purchasing an additional 6,445,908 shares during the period. Situational Awareness LP lifted its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 14.1% during the 2nd quarter. Situational Awareness LP now owns 15,384,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $574,000 after buying an additional 1,906,178 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 3,718.0% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 11,121,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $414,848,000 after buying an additional 10,830,623 shares in the last quarter. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC bought a new position in Applied Digital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $312,349,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Digital by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,285,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,151,000 after buying an additional 304,228 shares during the period. 65.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Applied Digital Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average is $31.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 4.01 and a current ratio of 4.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.00 billion, a PE ratio of -30.83 and a beta of 5.75.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last announced its quarterly 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). The company had revenue of $240.35 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $96.85 million. Applied Digital had a negative net margin of 37.78% and a negative return on equity of 16.42%. Applied Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 406.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.24) earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Digital Corporation will post -1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Digital Company Profile

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.