Aristides Capital LLC Acquires Shares of 5,000 AppFolio, Inc. $APPF

Aristides Capital LLC bought a new position in AppFolio, Inc. (NASDAQ:APPF) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 5,000 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $789,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in APPF. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AppFolio by 20.9% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,505,882 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $237,665,000 after acquiring an additional 259,933 shares during the period. Greenstone Partners & Co. LLC purchased a new position in AppFolio during the fourth quarter worth about $43,647,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in AppFolio by 158.6% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 281,495 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $65,490,000 after purchasing an additional 172,627 shares during the last quarter. Caledonia Private Investments Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in AppFolio by 45.9% in the 4th quarter. Caledonia Private Investments Pty Ltd now owns 332,635 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $77,388,000 after purchasing an additional 104,609 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of AppFolio by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,560,460 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $595,691,000 after buying an additional 101,466 shares during the period. 85.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AppFolio news, General Counsel Evan Pickering sold 660 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.25, for a total transaction of $102,465.00. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 6,555 shares in the company, valued at $1,017,663.75. This represents a 9.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO William Shane Trigg sold 3,584 shares of AppFolio stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.50, for a total value of $546,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 76,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,673,417.50. The trade was a 4.47% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 30,657 shares of company stock worth $5,310,740 over the last three months. 1.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AppFolio Price Performance

Shares of AppFolio stock opened at $163.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.04 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50-day moving average of $164.49 and a 200 day moving average of $173.97. AppFolio, Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.56 and a 12 month high of $326.04.

AppFolio (NASDAQ:APPF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The software maker reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $281.12 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $277.35 million. AppFolio had a net margin of 15.27% and a return on equity of 32.35%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that AppFolio, Inc. will post 5.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on APPF. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of AppFolio from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on AppFolio from $245.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Guggenheim began coverage on AppFolio in a research report on Wednesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $232.00 target price on the stock. Benchmark upped their price target on AppFolio from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of AppFolio from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $249.75.

AppFolio Profile

AppFolio, Inc is a Santa Barbara–based provider of cloud-based software solutions for the property management and legal industries. Founded in 2006 by former software executives, the company went public on the NASDAQ under the symbol APPF in 2015. Its original offering, AppFolio Property Manager, automates accounting, marketing, leasing, and maintenance functions for residential, commercial, student housing, and community association managers.

In 2019, AppFolio expanded its portfolio with the acquisition of MyCase, a web-based legal practice management platform for small to mid-size law firms.