Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Price Target Cut to $51.00 by Analysts at B. Riley Financial

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) had its price objective decreased by B. Riley Financial from $75.00 to $51.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. B. Riley Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on APLD. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on Applied Digital from $83.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $41.00 target price on Applied Digital and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 9th. Roth Capital set a $35.00 price target on Applied Digital and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered Applied Digital from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price target (up from $50.00) on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.75.

Applied Digital Price Performance

Applied Digital stock opened at $17.82 on Friday. Applied Digital has a 1 year low of $17.19 and a 1 year high of $50.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.90, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a current ratio of 2.56. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $24.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.35.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 7th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.30) by $0.29. The company had revenue of $300.39 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $116.29 million. Applied Digital had a negative net margin of 51.28% and a negative return on equity of 27.21%. Applied Digital’s revenue was up 367.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.03) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Digital will post -2.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Wes Cummins bought 55,803 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 16th. The stock was bought at an average price of $18.04 per share, with a total value of $1,006,686.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,874,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $105,975,132.12. This represents a 0.96% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Jason Gechen Zhang bought 300,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $18.86 per share, with a total value of $5,658,000.00. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 2,839,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,547,821.22. This trade represents a 11.81% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Digital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. acquired a new position in Applied Digital in the 2nd quarter worth $1,841,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Applied Digital by 39.6% in the 2nd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 146,633 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,469,000 after buying an additional 41,562 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP purchased a new position in Applied Digital in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,970,000. Situational Awareness LP grew its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 14.1% during the second quarter. Situational Awareness LP now owns 15,384,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $574,000 after acquiring an additional 1,906,178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Digital during the second quarter valued at about $4,350,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.67% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Applied Digital

Here are the key news stories impacting Applied Digital this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Insiders reportedly purchased approximately $7 million of Applied Digital shares during the selloff, signaling that company executives view the decline as an attractive entry point. Applied Digital insiders buy roughly $7M in shares as stock slides
• Positive Sentiment: Applied Digital agreed with Soluna Holdings to develop a jointly owned 50-megawatt critical IT data center in Texas. The project is intended to serve artificial-intelligence and high-performance-computing demand, supporting the company’s growth narrative. Applied Digital shares and Soluna data center agreement
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts and financial publications continue to identify APLD as a potential rebound candidate because of accelerating data-center demand, backlog growth, and AI monetization. The reported analyst consensus target is $59.75, while B. Riley still rates the stock “Buy” with a $51 target. Applied Digital consensus target price B. Riley lowered Applied Digital price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage comparing Applied Digital with IREN highlights that both companies face investor concerns about risk, making the sector’s recent weakness broader than a single company-specific issue. Should investors buy IREN instead of Applied Digital
• Negative Sentiment: B. Riley reduced its APLD price target from $75 to $51. Although the firm retained a Buy rating and still sees significant upside, the cut reflects a more cautious outlook and may reinforce near-term investor concerns. B. Riley Applied Digital stock recommendation

About Applied Digital

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

Its business includes high-performance computing data centers and cloud services intended to support artificial intelligence, machine learning, cryptocurrency mining and other compute-intensive workloads.