Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Stock Price Up 4.5% – Should You Buy?

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD)’s stock price rose 4.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as high as $20.44 and last traded at $20.39. 29,249,488 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 26% from the average daily volume of 23,122,809 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.51.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Applied Digital from $83.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Applied Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Applied Digital from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Sunday, August 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price objective (up from $50.00) on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.75.

Applied Digital Price Performance

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 firm has a market capitalization of $6.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.43 and a beta of 5.99. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $24.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.60.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last issued 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. 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $116.29 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.03) EPS. Applied Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 367.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Applied Digital Corporation will post -2.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Applied Digital

In other news, President Jason Gechen Zhang acquired 300,000 shares of Applied Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 16th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $18.86 per share, with a total value of $5,658,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the president owned 2,839,227 shares in the company, valued at $53,547,821.22. This trade represents a 11.81% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Wes Cummins bought 55,803 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $18.04 per share, for a total transaction of $1,006,686.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 5,874,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $105,975,132.12. This represents a 0.96% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at about $246,000. Blueprint Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Applied Digital during the third quarter worth about $246,000. Victory Financial Group LLC raised its position in Applied Digital by 81.4% during the third quarter. Victory Financial Group LLC now owns 13,867 shares of the company’s stock worth $338,000 after acquiring an additional 6,223 shares during the last quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Digital by 26.9% in the third quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 17,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $429,000 after purchasing an additional 3,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McGuire Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Digital by 1.9% in the third quarter. McGuire Investment Group LLC now owns 158,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,868,000 after purchasing an additional 2,950 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.67% of the company’s stock.

Applied Digital Company Profile

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.