Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Stock Falls 4.1% – What’s Next?

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) shares fell 4.1% on Wednesday. The stock traded as low as $24.36 and last traded at $24.37. 15,305,684 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 32% from the average session volume of 22,575,086 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.41.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on APLD. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Thursday, September 17th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective (up from $66.00) on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Craig Hallum increased their target price on shares of Applied Digital from $75.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.88.

Applied Digital Stock Down 0.9%

The firm has a market capitalization of $7.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.15 and a beta of 5.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $27.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.61. The company has a current ratio of 4.01, a quick ratio of 4.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.88.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported ($0.39) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $240.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $96.85 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.24) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 406.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Digital Corporation will post -1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Digital

In other news, Director Richard 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,154,724.70. This trade represents a 35.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Digital

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APLD. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $312,349,000. Situational Awareness LP grew its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 87.0% during the fourth quarter. Situational Awareness LP now owns 11,339,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $278,034,000 after purchasing an additional 5,274,905 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Digital during the fourth quarter worth $29,510,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new stake in Applied Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,363,000. Finally, BIT Capital GmbH increased its holdings in Applied Digital by 171.0% in the fourth quarter. BIT Capital GmbH now owns 426,120 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,448,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,120 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.67% of the company’s stock.

About Applied Digital

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: APLD) develops and operates digital infrastructure designed to support high-performance computing, artificial intelligence and other data-intensive applications. The company provides data-center capacity and related services to customers that require substantial computing power and electricity.

The company’s business has included hosting infrastructure for cryptocurrency-mining operations and, increasingly, developing facilities for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing workloads.