Appian Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:APPN)

Appian Co. (NASDAQ:APPN) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 3,630 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 232% compared to the average volume of 1,092 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Appian from $53.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Appian in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Appian from $35.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Appian from $40.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Appian in a report on Monday, January 6th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.57.

Appian Trading Up 10.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:APPN opened at $29.56 on Thursday. Appian has a twelve month low of $24.00 and a twelve month high of $43.33. The company’s 50 day moving average is $29.86 and its 200 day moving average is $33.36. The company has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a PE ratio of -23.46 and a beta of 1.78.

Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.11). Appian had a negative net margin of 14.95% and a negative return on equity of 532.05%. The business had revenue of $166.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $164.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.06 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Appian will post -0.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Abdiel Capital Advisors, Lp sold 78,528 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.49, for a total value of $2,080,206.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,942,140 shares in the company, valued at $263,367,288.60. This trade represents a 0.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Albert G.W. Biddle III sold 990 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.21, for a total transaction of $32,877.90. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 29,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $974,647.08. This trade represents a 3.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 240,510 shares of company stock valued at $6,648,635 over the last three months. 44.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Appian

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Appian by 285.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 71,771 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,451,000 after buying an additional 53,172 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Appian in the fourth quarter valued at $1,688,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Appian by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 972,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,071,000 after acquiring an additional 14,710 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in Appian by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 8,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Appian by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,028,472 shares of the company’s stock worth $165,839,000 after acquiring an additional 23,890 shares in the last quarter. 52.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.