Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Shares Down 3.4% Following Insider Selling

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD)’s share price traded down 3.4% during trading on Thursday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $28.17 and last traded at $28.86. 12,499,904 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 49% from the average session volume of 24,360,061 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.87.

Specifically, Director Richard N. Nottenburg sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.15, for a total value of $2,336,250.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 133,378 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,154,724.70. This trade represents a 35.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

APLD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Lake Street Capital upped their price objective on shares of Applied Digital from $70.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Applied Digital from $36.50 to $37.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Northland Securities set a $82.00 price target on shares of Applied Digital and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Citizens Jmp lifted their target price on shares of Applied Digital from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Applied Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.15.

Applied Digital Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 4.01, a current ratio of 4.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.88. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.19. The stock has a market cap of $8.41 billion, a PE ratio of -32.43 and a beta of 5.75.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported ($0.39) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.30). The company had revenue of $240.35 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $96.85 million. Applied Digital had a negative return on equity of 16.42% and a negative net margin of 37.78%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 406.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.24) earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Applied Digital Corporation will post -0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Digital

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of APLD. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Applied Digital by 36.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,168,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $592,601,000 after purchasing an additional 6,445,908 shares during the period. Situational Awareness LP grew its position in Applied Digital by 18.9% in the 1st quarter. Situational Awareness LP now owns 13,478,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $319,978,000 after acquiring an additional 2,139,378 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Applied Digital by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,285,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,151,000 after buying an additional 304,228 shares during the period. Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Digital during the fourth quarter worth approximately $138,380,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Digital by 24,356.8% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 5,219,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,561,000 after purchasing an additional 5,198,223 shares during the period. 65.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Applied Digital

Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) is a technology company specializing in the development and operation of large-scale digital infrastructure and sustainable Bitcoin mining solutions. Through its integrated platform, the company designs, builds and manages turnkey data center facilities while also providing comprehensive hosting services for cloud, colocation and enterprise computing needs. Applied Digital’s modular approach to facility design enables rapid deployment of capacity and streamlined integration of power, cooling and network connectivity.

In addition to its data center business, Applied Digital operates a network of Bitcoin mining sites that leverage vertically integrated capabilities, including hardware procurement, mining farm engineering, energy management and real-time performance monitoring.