KeyCorp Downgrades Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) to Sector Weight

KeyCorp downgraded shares of Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) from an overweight rating to a sector weight rating in a research note released on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on APPN. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Appian from $36.00 to $32.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. William Blair cut shares of Appian from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, DA Davidson cut shares of Appian from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Appian has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $43.00.

Appian Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ APPN opened at $29.84 on Friday. Appian has a one year low of $26.28 and a one year high of $52.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $31.20 and a 200 day moving average of $33.72.

Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) last announced its 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 net margin of 18.80% and a negative return on equity of 234.57%. The company had revenue of $146.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $142.87 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.55) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Appian will post -1.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Albert G.W. Biddle III purchased 3,225 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $28.02 per share, with a total value of $90,364.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $551,685.78. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Abdiel Capital Advisors, Lp acquired 25,121 shares of Appian stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $33.35 per share, for a total transaction of $837,785.35. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 7,045,647 shares in the company, valued at $234,972,327.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Albert G.W. Biddle III acquired 3,225 shares of Appian stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $28.02 per share, for a total transaction of $90,364.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 19,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $551,685.78. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have bought 1,381,568 shares of company stock valued at $46,783,802. 44.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Appian

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of APPN. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Appian by 3.0% during the second quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 9,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in Appian by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 9,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $351,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Appian by 10.0% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 8,337 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Appian by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $207,000 after purchasing an additional 1,027 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Appian during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. 52.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.