Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stake in AppLovin Corporation $APP

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ:APP) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 337,649 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 10,650 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in AppLovin were worth $227,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 39.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,954,458 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,930,776,000 after acquiring an additional 7,051,663 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of AppLovin by 111.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,852,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,516,471,000 after purchasing an additional 6,237,051 shares during the period. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AppLovin in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,456,108,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of AppLovin by 55.2% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,886,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,792,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,381,970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors bought a new stake in shares of AppLovin during the third quarter valued at approximately $743,899,000. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on APP. Evercore reissued a “buy” rating on shares of AppLovin in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of AppLovin from $860.00 to $700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $720.00 price target on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 price objective (down from $800.00) on shares of AppLovin in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of AppLovin from $465.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $672.05.

Insider Activity at AppLovin

In other news, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 5,231 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.47, for a total value of $2,497,645.57. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 30,658 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,638,275.26. This represents a 14.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Eduardo Vivas sold 163,910 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $453.49, for a total transaction of $74,331,545.90. Following the sale, the director owned 6,969,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,160,545,043.18. The trade was a 2.30% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 365,244 shares of company stock valued at $169,584,607. 13.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AppLovin Trading Up 0.7%

AppLovin stock opened at $478.11 on Wednesday. AppLovin Corporation has a 12 month low of $290.96 and a 12 month high of $745.61. The company has a market capitalization of $161.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 2.37. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $438.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $534.64. The company has a current ratio of 3.32, a quick ratio of 3.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. AppLovin had a return on equity of 245.64% and a net margin of 57.42%.The company’s revenue was up 66.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.73 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that AppLovin Corporation will post 15.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AppLovin Profile

AppLovin Corporation is a Palo Alto–based mobile technology company that provides software and services to help app developers grow and monetize their businesses. The company operates a data-driven advertising and marketing platform that connects app publishers and advertisers, delivering tools for user acquisition, monetization, analytics and creative optimization. AppLovin’s technology is integrated into a broad set of mobile applications through software development kits (SDKs) and ad products designed to maximize revenue and engagement for developers.

Key components of AppLovin’s offering include an ad mediation and exchange platform that enables publishers to manage and monetize inventory across multiple demand sources, and a user-acquisition platform that helps advertisers target and scale campaigns.