Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) Shares Gap Up on Insider Buying Activity

Appian Co. (NASDAQ:APPN)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday following insider buying activity. The stock had previously closed at $30.07, but opened at $31.45. Appian shares last traded at $30.55, with a volume of 40,459 shares changing hands.

Specifically, major shareholder Abdiel Capital Advisors, Lp bought 23,053 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $30.22 per share, with a total value of $696,661.66. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,036,046 shares in the company, valued at $303,289,310.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Abdiel Capital Advisors, Lp bought 20,014 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $31.21 per share, with a total value of $624,636.94. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,988,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $311,728,444.95. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Appian from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays lowered their price objective 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. William Blair downgraded shares of Appian from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. DA Davidson downgraded shares of Appian from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Appian from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.20.

Appian Price Performance

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 cap of $2.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.46 and a beta of 1.56. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.14.

Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) last released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $146.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $142.87 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.55) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Appian Co. will post -1.07 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Appian

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in Appian during the second quarter worth $65,000. Concord Wealth Partners bought a new position in Appian during the first quarter worth $85,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in Appian during the second quarter worth $96,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in Appian during the second quarter worth $105,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Appian during the second quarter worth $121,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.