Smith Group Asset Management LLC Purchases 4,223 Shares of AppLovin Corporation $APP

Smith Group Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) by 3.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 112,933 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,223 shares during the period. AppLovin makes up about 2.6% of Smith Group Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Smith Group Asset Management LLC’s holdings in AppLovin were worth $39,536,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of APP. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AppLovin by 7.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,830,675 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,724,594,000 after purchasing an additional 1,213,536 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of AppLovin by 36.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,588,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,745,752,000 after purchasing an additional 1,769,400 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its stake in shares of AppLovin by 29.0% during the first quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,270,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,396,486,000 after purchasing an additional 1,185,859 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of AppLovin by 32.9% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,011,306 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,062,876,000 after purchasing an additional 992,316 shares during the period. Finally, Kensico Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of AppLovin by 12.9% during the first quarter. Kensico Capital Management Corp now owns 2,879,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $762,849,000 after purchasing an additional 328,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 41.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on APP shares. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Monday, October 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $700.00 target price for the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $540.00 to $810.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $600.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AppLovin from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $560.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $605.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Herald Y. Chen sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $432.49, for a total value of $86,498,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 181,929 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,682,473.21. This represents a 52.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Arash Adam Foroughi sold 90,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $421.04, for a total transaction of $37,893,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,620,054 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,103,147,536.16. This trade represents a 3.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,156,788 shares of company stock worth $514,863,333 in the last quarter. 13.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AppLovin Stock Performance

Shares of AppLovin stock opened at $589.70 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $199.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.76, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 2.53. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.01. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $565.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $420.20. AppLovin Corporation has a 52 week low of $158.08 and a 52 week high of $745.61.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. AppLovin had a net margin of 45.72% and a return on equity of 252.67%. AppLovin’s revenue was up 77.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that AppLovin Corporation will post 6.87 EPS for the current year.

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.