Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Trading Up 5.5% – Still a Buy?

Applied Digital Co. (NASDAQ:APLD) rose 5.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $3.78 and last traded at $3.63. Approximately 13,385,432 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 51% from the average daily volume of 27,557,125 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.44.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on APLD. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on shares of Applied Digital from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on Applied Digital from $14.00 to $7.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Northland Securities raised their target price on Applied Digital from $12.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Compass Point initiated coverage on Applied Digital in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $10.00 price target for the company. Finally, HC Wainwright dropped their price objective on Applied Digital from $12.00 to $7.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Digital has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $10.67.

Applied Digital Stock Up 13.1 %

The company has a market capitalization of $867.09 million, a P/E ratio of -2.25 and a beta of 5.18. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $7.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 14th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $52.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.91 million. Applied Digital had a negative net margin of 127.86% and a negative return on equity of 117.67%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.24) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Applied Digital Co. will post -0.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Digital

In related news, Director Richard N. Nottenburg sold 20,000 shares of Applied Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.85, for a total value of $177,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 342,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,034,868.55. This trade represents a 5.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.81% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Digital

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of APLD. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Digital by 99.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,000 after buying an additional 6,507 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Digital in the third quarter worth $762,000. HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Digital in the third quarter worth $99,000. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Applied Digital by 14.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,337,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,282,000 after purchasing an additional 286,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 37,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 3,040 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.67% of the company’s stock.

About Applied Digital

Applied Digital Corporation designs, develops, and operates datacenters in North America. Its datacenters provide digital infrastructure solutions to the high-performance computing industry. The company also provides artificial intelligence cloud services, high performance computing datacenter hosting, and crypto datacenter hosting services.