Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) Sets New 12-Month Low on Analyst Downgrade

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Monday after B. Riley Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $75.00 to $51.00. B. Riley Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Applied Digital traded as low as $17.02 and last traded at $17.4520, with a volume of 2,117,797 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $17.82.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on APLD. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Roth Capital set a $35.00 price target on Applied Digital and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $41.00 price objective on Applied Digital and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Applied Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Three equities 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, President Jason Gechen Zhang bought 300,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 16th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $18.86 per share, with a total value of $5,658,000.00. Following the acquisition, the president owned 2,839,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,547,821.22. This represents a 11.81% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Richard N. Nottenburg sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.15, for a total value of $2,336,250.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 133,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,154,724.70. This trade represents a 35.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Situational Awareness LP lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Digital by 18.9% during the first quarter. Situational Awareness LP now owns 13,478,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $319,978,000 after acquiring an additional 2,139,378 shares during the period. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $312,349,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in Applied Digital during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,510,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in Applied Digital by 33.0% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,093,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,964,000 after purchasing an additional 271,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Digital by 32.7% during the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 581,255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,681,000 after purchasing an additional 143,308 shares during the last quarter. 65.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Applied Digital Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $5.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.72 and a beta of 5.59. The company has a quick ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.90. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.35.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 7th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.30) by $0.29. Applied Digital had a negative return on equity of 27.21% and a negative net margin of 51.28%. The business had revenue of $300.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.29 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.03) EPS. Applied Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 367.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Applied Digital Corporation will post -2.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.