Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Stock Price Up 7.5% – What’s Next?

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) shares rose 7.5% on Monday. The company traded as high as $16.94 and last traded at $16.72. 22,007,817 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 6% from the average daily volume of 23,384,209 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.55.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on APLD shares. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Digital from $83.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Applied Digital from $41.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 target price (up from $50.00) on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $22.00 price target on shares of Applied Digital and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.42.

Applied Digital Price Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $22.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.90, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a current ratio of 2.56. The company has a market cap of $5.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.20 and a beta of 5.58.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 7th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.30) by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $300.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $116.29 million. Applied Digital had a negative net margin of 51.28% and a negative return on equity of 27.21%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 367.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.03) EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Applied Digital Corporation will post -2.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Richard N. Nottenburg sold 31,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.84, for a total transaction of $682,500.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 102,128 shares in the company, valued at $2,230,475.52. This represents a 23.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Jason Gechen Zhang purchased 300,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $18.86 per share, with a total value of $5,658,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the president directly owned 2,839,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,547,821.22. This represents a 11.81% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Applied Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in APLD. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Applied Digital in the second quarter valued at about $37,000. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Digital by 244.3% during the first quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,205 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 855 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new position in Applied Digital during the second quarter worth about $56,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its position in shares of Applied Digital by 691.8% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 1,342 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Digital by 28.5% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 464 shares during the period. 65.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Applied Digital

Applied Digital Corporation develops, builds and operates data centers designed for high-density computing. Its facilities support digital asset mining as well as high-performance computing workloads, including artificial intelligence applications, and the company provides hosting and infrastructure services to customers in these sectors.

The company also offers cloud services that give customers access to computing capacity for demanding workloads. Its data center operations are focused in the United States, including facilities in North Dakota.

Previously known as Applied Blockchain, the company adopted the Applied Digital name in 2023 to reflect its broader digital infrastructure business.