Renaissance Technologies LLC Acquires 328,200 Shares of AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)

Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) by 169.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 522,400 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 328,200 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in AppLovin were worth $169,169,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new stake in AppLovin during the 3rd quarter worth about $364,000. IHT Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in AppLovin in the third quarter valued at approximately $316,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of AppLovin by 146.6% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 6,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $837,000 after purchasing an additional 3,812 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 117,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,340,000 after buying an additional 6,188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of AppLovin by 8.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,388,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $703,406,000 after buying an additional 428,419 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.85% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on APP. Loop Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of AppLovin from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup upped their price objective on AppLovin from $460.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Benchmark raised their target price on shares of AppLovin from $375.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $538.00 target price on AppLovin and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AppLovin presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $435.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AppLovin news, Director Herald Y. Chen sold 200,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.65, for a total transaction of $64,930,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 621,209 shares in the company, valued at $201,675,501.85. This trade represents a 24.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 17,500 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.65, for a total transaction of $4,228,875.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 88,389 shares in the company, valued at $21,359,201.85. This trade represents a 16.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 306,900 shares of company stock worth $106,401,841. Insiders own 14.69% of the company’s stock.

AppLovin Stock Up 5.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ APP opened at $232.22 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.95 billion, a PE ratio of 51.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 2.39. AppLovin Co. has a one year low of $60.67 and a one year high of $525.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 2.41. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $340.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $290.34.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AppLovin Co. will post 6.87 EPS for the current year.

About AppLovin

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.