Insider Buying: Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) President Purchases $5,658,000.00 in Stock

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) President Jason Gechen Zhang purchased 300,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the president directly owned 2,839,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,547,821.22. This represents a 11.81% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Applied Digital Trading Up 8.5%

Shares of APLD opened at $20.98 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.90, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a current ratio of 2.56. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $25.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.26. 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 quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $300.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up 367.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.03) EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Applied Digital Corporation will post -2.06 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on APLD shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $22.00 price objective on Applied Digital and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Wall Street Zen cut Applied Digital from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Sunday, August 30th. Roth Capital set a $35.00 target price on shares of Applied Digital and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 target price (up from $50.00) on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Applied Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of APLD. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. acquired a new position in Applied Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $1,841,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 39.6% in the 2nd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 146,633 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,469,000 after buying an additional 41,562 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Digital in the 1st quarter valued at $1,970,000. Situational Awareness LP increased its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter. Situational Awareness LP now owns 15,384,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $574,000 after buying an additional 1,906,178 shares during the period. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new stake in shares of Applied Digital during the second quarter worth $4,350,000. Institutional investors own 65.67% 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 agreed with Soluna Holdings to develop a planned 50-megawatt AI and high-performance-computing data center at Soluna’s Project Dorothy 3 site in Texas. Applied Digital will own 51% of the project company, giving it majority control of a power-backed data-center development. Soluna Agrees to Form Strategic Partnership with Applied Digital to Develop Wind-Powered AI Data Center in Texas
• Positive Sentiment: The facility is expected to use electricity from a nearby wind farm, reinforcing Applied Digital’s positioning in energy-efficient and renewable-powered AI infrastructure. The company’s majority-owned neocloud business, ChronoScale, has also signed a non-binding letter of intent to lease the site, potentially providing an initial customer opportunity. Soluna and Applied Digital to Build 50 MW Wind-Powered AI Data Center in Texas
• Positive Sentiment: Roth MKM reinstated coverage of APLD with a Buy rating and a $35 price target. The target implies substantial upside from recent trading levels and added credibility to the Texas project and Applied Digital’s broader AI data-center strategy. Roth MKM Reinstates Applied Digital at Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Management’s recent insider purchases—including approximately $6.6 million of stock bought by the CEO and president—provided an additional confidence signal following the selloff. Applied Digital Executives Buy $6.7 Million in Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: APLD also benefited from a wider rally in AI data-center and power-infrastructure stocks after industry commentary emphasized strong electricity demand and limited supply. This sector-wide momentum may not represent a company-specific improvement.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors still face execution and financing risks. Applied Digital remains unprofitable, carries substantial leverage and has significant cash needs to fund data-center expansion. In addition, ChronoScale’s lease commitment is currently non-binding, so the Texas project’s ultimate economics and tenant demand remain uncertain.

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.