Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) Trading Up 4.6% Following Insider Buying Activity

Appian Co. (NASDAQ:APPN)’s stock price shot up 4.6% on Wednesday following insider buying activity. The stock 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 purchased 1,712 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $32.91 per share, with a total value of $56,341.92. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 10,169,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $334,670,774.43. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,142,000 shares in the company, 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 on Friday, September 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $33.55 per share, for a total transaction of $266,957.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,126,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,742,330.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Appian Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $32.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a PE ratio of -23.77 and a beta of 1.56.

Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $142.87 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.55) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Appian Co. will post -1.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Appian

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

About Appian

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.