Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Trading Up 2.1% – Here’s Why

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD)’s stock price traded up 2.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $28.64 and last traded at $27.44. 15,888,210 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 32% from the average session volume of 23,537,367 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.87.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on APLD shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Applied Digital from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Lucid Cap Mkts upgraded Applied Digital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Applied Digital from $36.50 to $37.50 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Citizens Jmp increased their price target on Applied Digital from $40.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.15.

Applied Digital Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $31.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.88, a current ratio of 4.01 and a quick ratio of 4.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.00 billion, a PE ratio of -30.83 and a beta of 5.75.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The company reported ($0.39) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.30). Applied Digital had a negative return on equity of 16.42% and a negative net margin of 37.78%.The firm had revenue of $240.35 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $96.85 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.24) earnings per share. Applied Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 406.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Digital Corporation will post -1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Richard N. Nottenburg sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.15, for a total transaction of $2,336,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 133,378 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,154,724.70. The trade was a 35.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Applied Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in APLD. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Applied Digital by 3,718.0% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 11,121,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $414,848,000 after buying an additional 10,830,623 shares during the last quarter. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the 2nd quarter worth $312,349,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Applied Digital by 36.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,168,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $592,601,000 after purchasing an additional 6,445,908 shares during the period. Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $138,380,000. Finally, Situational Awareness LP boosted its position in shares of Applied Digital by 87.0% during the 4th quarter. Situational Awareness LP now owns 11,339,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $278,034,000 after purchasing an additional 5,274,905 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.67% of the company’s stock.

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.