Arizona State Retirement System Increases Holdings in AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)

Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 60,358 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,835 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in AppLovin were worth $19,546,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of AppLovin by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 10,820,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,382,307,000 after buying an additional 1,029,009 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in AppLovin by 622.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,893,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,030,462,000 after purchasing an additional 6,801,138 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in AppLovin in the 4th quarter worth about $1,781,922,000. State Street Corp raised its position in AppLovin by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,388,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $703,406,000 after purchasing an additional 428,419 shares during the period. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position in AppLovin by 5,421.4% in the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,084,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,322,682,000 after purchasing an additional 4,010,520 shares during the period. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on APP. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $400.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of AppLovin from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $325.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $220.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of AppLovin from $250.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $452.29.

Insider Activity

In other AppLovin news, CFO Herald Y. Chen sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $366.16, for a total value of $146,464.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 207,649 shares in the company, valued at $76,032,757.84. This trade represents a 0.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Victoria Valenzuela sold 15,971 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.07, for a total transaction of $5,000,040.97. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 372,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $116,526,219.35. This trade represents a 4.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 406,947 shares of company stock worth $140,740,416. Corporate insiders own 14.69% of the company’s stock.

AppLovin Price Performance

NASDAQ APP opened at $318.00 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 2.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $366.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $259.26. AppLovin Co. has a 52-week low of $59.30 and a 52-week high of $525.15. The company has a market cap of $106.72 billion, a PE ratio of 70.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.30.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.61. AppLovin had a net margin of 33.54% and a return on equity of 188.55%. Sell-side analysts forecast that AppLovin Co. will post 6.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AppLovin Company 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.