Highland Capital Management LLC Purchases 2,066 Shares of AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)

Highland Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,967 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,066 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in AppLovin were worth $1,114,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC grew its holdings in AppLovin by 16.5% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 5.4% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 7,552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $416,000 after buying an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 86.1% during the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 99.0% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 2.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 22,642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $905,000 after buying an additional 641 shares during the last quarter. 41.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at AppLovin

In other AppLovin news, CFO Matthew Stumpf sold 2,775 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.30, for a total value of $175,657.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 362,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,931,311.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other AppLovin news, Director Craig Scott Billings sold 5,550 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.33, for a total value of $323,731.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $743,065.87. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Matthew Stumpf sold 2,775 shares of AppLovin stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.30, for a total transaction of $175,657.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 362,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,931,311.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,215 shares of company stock valued at $666,315. Corporate insiders own 12.43% of the company’s stock.

AppLovin Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of APP stock opened at $68.86 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.86, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.88. AppLovin Co. has a one year low of $13.83 and a one year high of $74.55. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $55.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 1.71.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $953.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.66 million. AppLovin had a net margin of 10.84% and a return on equity of 24.69%. AppLovin’s quarterly revenue was up 35.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.21) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that AppLovin Co. will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of AppLovin from $58.50 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of AppLovin from $59.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of AppLovin in a report on Monday, December 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $53.20 target price on the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of AppLovin from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of AppLovin from $46.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AppLovin currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.04.

About AppLovin

AppLovin Corporation engages in building a software-based platform for advertisers to enhance the marketing and monetization of their content in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Software Platform and Apps. The company's software solutions include AppDiscovery, a marketing software solution, which matches advertiser demand with publisher supply through auctions; MAX, an in-app bidding software that optimizes the value of a publisher's advertising inventory by running a real-time competitive auction; Adjust, a measurement and analytics marketing platform that provides marketers with the visibility, insights, and tools needed to grow their apps from early stage to maturity; and Wurl, a connected TV platform, which distributes streaming video for content companies and provides advertising and publishing solutions through its AdPool, ContentDiscovery, and Global FAST Pass products.