Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Shares Up 21.5% Following Analyst Upgrade

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) was up 21.5% during trading on Thursday after Citizens Jmp raised their price target on the stock from $40.00 to $60.00. Citizens Jmp currently has a market outperform rating on the stock. Applied Digital traded as high as $48.57 and last traded at $48.02. Approximately 41,816,720 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 59% from the average daily volume of 26,346,643 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.52.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on APLD. Northland Securities set a $56.00 target price on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Zacks Research raised shares of Applied Digital from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Friday, April 24th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on Applied Digital to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Digital news, Director Douglas S. Miller sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.98, for a total transaction of $349,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 184,859 shares in the company, valued at $6,466,367.82. The trade was a 5.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard N. Nottenburg sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.59, for a total transaction of $432,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 208,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,207,795.02. The trade was a 5.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 35,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,182,175. Corporate insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Applied Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Applied Digital announced a 15-year lease for 300 MW at its Polaris Forge 3 campus in North Dakota, a multibillion-dollar hyperscaler commitment that significantly boosts contracted revenue and improves visibility into future cash flow. Article: Applied Digital Reaches Significant Milestone, Surpassing 1 GW of Contracted Capacity…
• Positive Sentiment: Needham and Citizens JMP both raised their price targets and reiterated bullish ratings, signaling Wall Street expects more upside as the new lease deal and AI infrastructure expansion play out. Article: Needham says Polaris Forge 3 lease agreement could drive Applied Digital stock higher
• Positive Sentiment: The company now says total contracted lease revenue has climbed to about $31 billion, or as much as $73 billion if renewal options are exercised, reinforcing the case that Applied Digital is becoming a major AI infrastructure provider. Article: Applied Digital’s New Hyperscaler Lease Lifts Contracted AI Revenue To US$31b
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts are also discussing Applied Digital’s direct-to-chip cooling strategy, which could help it win hyperscale AI customers by supporting higher rack densities and better performance for next-generation workloads. Article: Can Direct-to-Chip Cooling Strengthen APLD’s Hyperscale Appeal?

Institutional Trading of Applied Digital

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new position in Applied Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in Applied Digital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in Applied Digital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, McMillan Office Inc. acquired a new stake in Applied Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. 65.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Applied Digital Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $13.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -64.89 and a beta of 5.69. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.38 and a quick ratio of 2.38.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 8th. The company reported ($0.36) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $108.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.47 million. Applied Digital had a negative return on equity of 15.91% and a negative net margin of 52.84%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 139.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.08) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Digital Corporation will post -0.61 EPS for the current year.

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.