Janus Henderson Group PLC Boosts Stake in AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP)

Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of AppLovin Co. (NASDAQ:APP) by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,350,802 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 560,560 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in AppLovin were worth $306,897,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 622.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,893,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,030,462,000 after purchasing an additional 6,801,138 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AppLovin in the 2nd quarter worth about $290,655,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 977.2% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,496,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,522,000 after purchasing an additional 1,357,400 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 10,820,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,382,307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,029,009 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AppLovin by 2,200.4% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 523,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,297,000 after purchasing an additional 500,407 shares in the last quarter. 41.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AppLovin Stock Up 7.6 %

APP stock opened at $366.55 on Wednesday. AppLovin Co. has a fifty-two week low of $35.79 and a fifty-two week high of $372.57. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $206.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $128.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 2.41. The company has a market capitalization of $123.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 2.28.

AppLovin (NASDAQ:APP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.33. AppLovin had a return on equity of 122.24% and a net margin of 26.85%. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.30 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that AppLovin Co. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APP has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group upgraded AppLovin from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Daiwa America upgraded AppLovin from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Macquarie boosted their target price on AppLovin from $150.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup boosted their target price on AppLovin from $185.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on AppLovin from $260.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mary Margaret Hasti Georgiadis sold 30,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.69, for a total value of $10,360,545.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 154,500 shares in the company, valued at $52,482,105. This represents a 16.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Vasily Shikin sold 593,588 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.37, for a total value of $189,574,199.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 3,919,024 shares in the company, valued at $1,251,618,694.88. The trade was a 13.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 914,895 shares of company stock worth $253,462,174. Company insiders own 14.69% of the company’s stock.

AppLovin Company Profile

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.