Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Stock: Insider Wes Cummins Acquires 55,803 Shares

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) CEO Wes Cummins acquired 55,803 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 16th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $18.04 per share, with a total value of $1,006,686.12. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 5,874,453 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,975,132.12. This represents a 0.96% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Applied Digital Trading Up 0.4%

APLD opened at $19.33 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $25.71 and a 200 day moving average of $32.29. Applied Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $17.65 and a 12 month high of $50.72.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 7th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.30) by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $300.39 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $116.29 million. Applied Digital had a negative return on equity of 27.21% and a negative net margin of 51.28%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 367.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.03) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Digital Corporation will post -2.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Monday. Zacks Research downgraded Applied Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of Applied Digital from $83.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 target price (up from $50.00) on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $22.00 price target on shares of Applied Digital and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.25.

Key Headlines 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 large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Applied Digital in the second quarter worth about $1,841,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Applied Digital by 39.6% in the second quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 146,633 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,469,000 after acquiring an additional 41,562 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP purchased a new position in Applied Digital in the 1st quarter valued at $1,970,000. Situational Awareness LP boosted its position in Applied Digital by 14.1% during the second quarter. Situational Awareness LP now owns 15,384,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $574,000 after acquiring an additional 1,906,178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TFR Capital LLC. grew its position in shares of Applied Digital by 425.3% in the first quarter. TFR Capital LLC. now owns 372,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,497,000 after purchasing an additional 301,954 shares in the last quarter. 65.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Applied Digital

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.