William Blair Lowers Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) to Market Perform

William Blair cut shares of Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note released on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Barclays lowered their target price on Appian from $36.00 to $32.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. DA Davidson lowered Appian from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on Appian from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Appian has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $42.33.

Appian Price Performance

Appian stock opened at $26.94 on Thursday. Appian has a 52 week low of $26.28 and a 52 week high of $52.99. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. The stock has a market cap of $1.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.30 and a beta of 1.47.

Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by $0.05. Appian had a negative return on equity of 234.57% and a negative net margin of 18.80%. The firm had revenue of $146.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $142.87 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.55) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Appian will post -1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Abdiel Capital Advisors, Lp purchased 150,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The shares were bought at an average price of $37.76 per share, for a total transaction of $5,664,000.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 7,805,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $294,748,782.72. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Albert G.W. Biddle III purchased 3,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $28.02 per share, for a total transaction of $90,364.50. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $551,685.78. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Abdiel Capital Advisors, Lp acquired 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $37.76 per share, for a total transaction of $5,664,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,805,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $294,748,782.72. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have bought 1,381,568 shares of company stock worth $46,783,802. Company insiders own 44.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Appian

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APPN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Appian by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,081,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $203,008,000 after acquiring an additional 392,190 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Appian by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,322,675 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,812,000 after buying an additional 317,411 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Appian during the 4th quarter valued at $10,534,000. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Appian by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 1,859,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,043,000 after buying an additional 236,230 shares during the period. Finally, Stanley Laman Group Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Appian during the 4th quarter valued at $7,955,000. 52.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.