Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Stock Price Up 1.8% – Here’s What Happened

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) shot up 1.8% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $26.48 and last traded at $26.37. 13,364,630 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 43% from the average session volume of 23,256,396 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.91.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Lucid Cap Mkts upgraded Applied Digital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Citizens Jmp lifted their price objective 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Craig Hallum increased their price objective on shares of Applied Digital from $75.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Applied Digital from $36.50 to $37.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.15.

Applied Digital Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $7.69 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.63 and a beta of 5.72. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $29.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.01. The company has a quick ratio of 4.01, a current ratio of 4.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.88.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 37.78% and a negative return on equity of 16.42%. The firm had revenue of $240.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $96.85 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.24) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 406.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Applied Digital Corporation will post -1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Digital

In other news, Director Richard Nottenburg sold 75,000 shares of Applied Digital stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,154,724.70. This trade represents a 35.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Applied Digital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Digital by 13.7% in the 2nd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 37,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,394,000 after purchasing an additional 4,498 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of Applied Digital during the second quarter worth approximately $962,000. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Applied Digital by 3,718.0% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 11,121,928 shares of the company’s stock worth $414,848,000 after purchasing an additional 10,830,623 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $272,000. Finally, AlphaGrep UK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $254,000. 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.