Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Stock Price Up 10.7% – Time to Buy?

Applied Digital Co. (NASDAQ:APLD)’s share price rose 10.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $8.78 and last traded at $8.77. Approximately 10,155,628 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 17% from the average daily volume of 8,647,539 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.92.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on APLD. HC Wainwright upped their price target on Applied Digital from $5.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Lake Street Capital upped their target price on shares of Applied Digital from $7.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Craig Hallum lifted their price target on shares of Applied Digital from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $11.00 price objective on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Applied Digital in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $15.00 target price on the stock. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $11.14.

Applied Digital Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.22 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $8.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.62. The company has a market cap of $1.94 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.86 and a beta of 4.67.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 9th. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.28) by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $60.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $54.85 million. Applied Digital had a negative return on equity of 88.87% and a negative net margin of 74.95%. The company’s revenue was up 67.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.10) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Applied Digital Co. will post -0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Applied Digital

In related news, Director Richard N. Nottenburg sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.37, for a total value of $589,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 433,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,196,265.82. This trade represents a 15.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Wes Cummins sold 200,000 shares of Applied Digital stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.20, for a total transaction of $1,840,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,875,955 shares in the company, valued at $35,658,786. The trade was a 4.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 359,369 shares of company stock valued at $3,115,161. 11.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of APLD. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 8.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 37,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $309,000 after buying an additional 3,040 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Applied Digital by 14.4% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 43,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $355,000 after purchasing an additional 5,423 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in Applied Digital by 99.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,071 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 6,507 shares during the period. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Digital by 56.8% in the second quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,000 after buying an additional 6,795 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Digital by 381.8% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 8,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 6,933 shares during the last quarter. 65.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.