Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) Trading 4.6% Higher on Insider Buying Activity

Appian Co. (NASDAQ:APPN) shot up 4.6% on Wednesday following insider buying activity. The company traded as high as $34.22 and last traded at $34.08. 233,318 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 553,928 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.57.

Specifically, major shareholder Abdiel Capital Advisors, Lp bought 1,712 shares of Appian stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $32.91 per share, with a total value of $56,341.92. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 10,169,273 shares in the company, valued at $334,670,774.43. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Abdiel Capital Advisors, Lp purchased 15,552 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $33.08 per share, with a total value of $514,460.16. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 10,142,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $335,497,360. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In other news, major shareholder Abdiel Capital Advisors, Lp acquired 7,957 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $33.55 per share, with a total value of $266,957.35. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 10,126,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,742,330.40. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on APPN. KeyCorp cut shares of Appian from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Appian from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Appian from $32.00 to $29.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. DA Davidson downgraded Appian from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, William Blair cut Appian from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.20.

Appian Trading Down 0.1 %

The company has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a PE ratio of -23.77 and a beta of 1.56. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $32.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68.

Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by $0.05. Appian had a negative net margin of 18.80% and a negative return on equity of 532.05%. The firm had revenue of $146.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $142.87 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.55) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Appian Co. will post -1.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in Appian in the second quarter worth $65,000. Concord Wealth Partners bought a new stake in shares of Appian during the 1st quarter valued at $85,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Appian in the 2nd quarter worth about $96,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Appian in the 2nd quarter worth about $105,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Appian during the 2nd quarter valued at about $121,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.70% of the company’s stock.

Appian Company Profile

Appian Corporation, a software company that provides low-code design platform in the United States, Mexico, Portugal, and internationally. The company's platform offers artificial intelligence, process automation, data fabric, and process mining. It provides The Appian Platform, an integrated automation platform that enables organizations to design, automate, and optimize mission-critical business processes.