Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday. The stock had previously closed at $16.68, but opened at $18.13. Applied Digital shares last traded at $17.5660, with a volume of 3,864,007 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Applied Digital from $41.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. B. Riley Financial reduced their price objective on Applied Digital from $75.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $22.00 price target on Applied Digital and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Applied Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Digital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.42.

Applied Digital Trading Up 9.5%

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.66. The company has a quick ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.90. The stock has a market cap of $5.52 billion, a PE ratio of -11.14 and a beta of 5.58.

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

Insider Transactions at Applied Digital

In related news, Director Richard N. Nottenburg sold 31,250 shares of Applied Digital stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.84, for a total transaction of $682,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 102,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,230,475.52. This trade represents a 23.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Jason Gechen Zhang acquired 300,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $18.86 per share, with a total value of $5,658,000.00. Following the purchase, the president directly owned 2,839,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,547,821.22. This trade represents a 11.81% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Digital

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

About Applied Digital

Applied Digital Corporation develops, builds and operates data centers designed for high-density computing. Its facilities support digital asset mining as well as high-performance computing workloads, including artificial intelligence applications, and the company provides hosting and infrastructure services to customers in these sectors. The company also offers cloud services that give customers access to computing capacity for demanding workloads. Its data center operations are focused in the United States, including facilities in North Dakota.