Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Price Target Cut to $25.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) had its price target lowered by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $41.00 to $25.00 in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 52.43% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on APLD. B. Riley Financial cut their price objective on Applied Digital from $75.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Roth Capital set a $35.00 target price on Applied Digital and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Applied Digital from $83.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 target price (up from $50.00) on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Applied Digital from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.42.

Applied Digital Price Performance

Shares of APLD stock traded up $0.85 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $16.40. The company had a trading volume of 10,349,051 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,329,322. Applied Digital has a 52-week low of $13.11 and a 52-week high of $50.72. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $22.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.90, a current ratio of 2.56 and a quick ratio of 2.56. The company has a market capitalization of $4.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.99 and a beta of 5.58.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last issued its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $300.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.29 million. Applied Digital had a negative net margin of 51.28% and a negative return on equity of 27.21%. Applied Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 367.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.03) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Applied Digital will post -2.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Applied Digital

In related news, Director Richard Nottenburg sold 31,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.84, for a total transaction of $682,500.00. Following the sale, the director owned 102,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,230,475.52. This represents a 23.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Wes Cummins acquired 55,803 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 16th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $18.04 per share, with a total value of $1,006,686.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,874,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $105,975,132.12. The trade was a 0.96% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 9.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Situational Awareness LP lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Digital by 14.1% during the 2nd quarter. Situational Awareness LP now owns 15,384,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $574,000 after purchasing an additional 1,906,178 shares during the last quarter. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC purchased a new position in Applied Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $312,349,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in Applied Digital by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,240,239 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,377,000 after buying an additional 72,460 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Applied Digital by 33.0% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,093,701 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,964,000 after buying an additional 271,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Applied Digital by 318.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 785,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,638,000 after buying an additional 597,548 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.67% of the company’s stock.

About Applied Digital

Applied Digital Corporation develops, builds and operates data centers designed for high-density computing. Its facilities support digital asset mining as well as high-performance computing workloads, including artificial intelligence applications, and the company provides hosting and infrastructure services to customers in these sectors.

The company also offers cloud services that give customers access to computing capacity for demanding workloads. Its data center operations are focused in the United States, including facilities in North Dakota.

Previously known as Applied Blockchain, the company adopted the Applied Digital name in 2023 to reflect its broader digital infrastructure business.