Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Stock: Insider Jason Gechen Zhang Acquires 300,000 Shares

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) President Jason Gechen Zhang bought 300,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $18.86 per share, for a total transaction of $5,658,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 2,839,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,547,821.22. This represents a 11.81% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Applied Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ APLD opened at $19.33 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $25.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.29. Applied Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $17.65 and a 52 week high of $50.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.90, a current ratio of 2.56 and a quick ratio of 2.56.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 7th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.30) by $0.29. The business had revenue of $300.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $116.29 million. Applied Digital had a negative net margin of 51.28% and a negative return on equity of 27.21%. The company’s revenue was up 367.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.03) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Digital Corporation will post -2.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $41.00 price objective on Applied Digital and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 9th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on Applied Digital from $83.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Applied Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.25.

Key Stories Impacting Applied Digital

Here are the key news stories impacting Applied Digital this week:

• Positive Sentiment: CEO Wes Cummins and President Jason Gechen Zhang bought approximately $6.66 million of APLD shares after the selloff. The purchases—55,803 shares by Cummins and 300,000 shares by Zhang—may reassure investors that management views the company’s valuation and long-term growth prospects favorably. Powering Up: Applied Digital Execs Buy $6.7M in Stock
• Positive Sentiment: APLD participated in a broader rebound among AI infrastructure stocks after Goldman Sachs upgraded CoreWeave, one of Applied Digital’s tenants, to Buy. The sector move suggests investors are again focusing on long-term AI compute demand and power-backed data-center assets. AI Infrastructure Selloff Reverses
• Positive Sentiment: Applied Digital has cited a contracted backlog of roughly $36 billion, about 1.41 gigawatts of leased IT capacity and access to as much as 1 gigawatt of potential power capacity in Finland. Scarce permitted and powered sites could support future growth or attract strategic interest from hyperscalers. Applied Digital AI Infrastructure and Finland Expansion
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s revenue growth remains strong, with recent quarterly revenue far exceeding estimates and increasing sharply year over year, but Applied Digital is still reporting substantial net losses. The stock’s direction will depend on whether growth ultimately translates into sustainable cash flow.
• Neutral Sentiment: Applied Digital objected to unauthorized tokenized versions of its shares being traded on the OKXICE platform. The move protects the company’s control over its equity representation but has limited direct fundamental impact. Applied Digital Blocks Tokenized Stock
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned about approximately $6.4 billion of debt, an 866% jump in interest expense and a debt-to-equity ratio near 3.9. High financing costs could consume cash and delay profitability despite rapid AI-related revenue growth. APLD Interest Costs and Profitability

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Digital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Osbon Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Applied Digital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Digital by 244.3% in the 1st quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Digital during the 1st quarter worth $53,000. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC increased its stake in Applied Digital by 246.6% in the 3rd quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 2,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 1,561 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.67% of the company’s stock.

Applied Digital Company Profile

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: APLD) develops and operates digital infrastructure designed to support high-performance computing and artificial intelligence applications. The company provides data-center capacity, hosting services and related infrastructure for customers that require substantial computing power and energy resources.

Its business includes high-performance computing data centers and cloud services intended to support artificial intelligence, machine learning, cryptocurrency mining and other compute-intensive workloads.