Appian Co. (NASDAQ:APPN) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Appian Co. (NASDAQ:APPN) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,200,000 shares, a growth of 8.4% from the March 15th total of 2,030,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 480,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.6 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Abdiel Capital Advisors, Lp sold 400,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.44, for a total transaction of $12,976,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,890,304 shares in the company, valued at $191,081,461.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 43.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Appian

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APPN. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in Appian during the 3rd quarter worth about $14,884,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Appian by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,322,675 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,812,000 after acquiring an additional 317,411 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Appian in the 4th quarter worth about $10,534,000. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP increased its stake in Appian by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 1,859,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,043,000 after acquiring an additional 236,230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Appian in the 1st quarter worth about $13,983,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.70% of the company’s stock.

Appian Stock Down 3.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ APPN opened at $36.52 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $36.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a PE ratio of -23.87 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Appian has a one year low of $30.87 and a one year high of $54.26.

Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.40) by $0.33. The business had revenue of $145.32 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.41 million. Appian had a negative return on equity of 127.40% and a negative net margin of 20.43%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Appian will post -0.98 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on APPN shares. DA Davidson cut their price objective on Appian from $55.00 to $52.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 4th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Appian in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Appian from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Appian from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Appian from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Appian has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.86.

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.