Applied Digital Co. (NASDAQ:APLD) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Applied Digital Co. (NASDAQ:APLD) was the target of a large increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 19,500,000 shares, an increase of 7.0% from the August 15th total of 18,220,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 9,590,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days. Approximately 17.3% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Douglas S. Miller sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.50, for a total value of $55,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 218,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,201,783. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 20.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Applied Digital

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 427.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 7,337,288 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,453,000 after acquiring an additional 5,945,559 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Applied Digital by 70.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,176,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,434,000 after purchasing an additional 2,547,485 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Applied Digital by 92.1% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,426,281 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,384,000 after purchasing an additional 1,163,247 shares during the last quarter. Oasis Management Co Ltd. grew its position in Applied Digital by 23.6% during the 4th quarter. Oasis Management Co Ltd. now owns 4,928,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,216,000 after purchasing an additional 940,075 shares during the period. Finally, Hood River Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Digital by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 9,596,231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,098,000 after buying an additional 771,699 shares during the last quarter. 65.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Applied Digital Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Applied Digital stock opened at $5.81 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $797.18 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.35 and a beta of 4.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Applied Digital has a 12-month low of $2.36 and a 12-month high of $8.65. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $4.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4.41.

Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported ($0.52) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($0.29). The firm had revenue of $43.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.70 million. Applied Digital had a negative return on equity of 111.80% and a negative net margin of 88.95%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.07) EPS. Analysts predict that Applied Digital will post -1.02 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

APLD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 target price on shares of Applied Digital in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $11.00 target price on shares of Applied Digital in a research note on Monday, September 9th. B. Riley upped their price target on Applied Digital from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $10.00 price objective on shares of Applied Digital in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $8.40.

About Applied Digital

Applied Digital Corporation designs, develops, and operates datacenters in North America. Its datacenters provide digital infrastructure solutions to the high-performance computing industry. The company also provides artificial intelligence cloud services, high performance computing datacenter hosting, and crypto datacenter hosting services.