AppFolio (NASDAQ:APPF) Shares Gap Down on Disappointing Earnings

AppFolio, Inc. (NASDAQ:APPF) shares gapped down prior to trading on Friday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $253.58, but opened at $241.30. AppFolio shares last traded at $236.91, with a volume of 105,559 shares trading hands.

The software maker reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.34). AppFolio had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 30.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on APPF. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 target price on shares of AppFolio in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered AppFolio from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $255.00 to $193.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of AppFolio from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating and set a $253.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AppFolio currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $268.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO William Shane Trigg sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.85, for a total transaction of $804,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 74,327 shares in the company, valued at $17,084,060.95. This trade represents a 4.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Matthew S. Mazza sold 5,090 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $236.24, for a total transaction of $1,202,461.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 28,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,677,559.84. This represents a 15.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 24,606 shares of company stock worth $5,958,832. Company insiders own 5.24% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AppFolio

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in AppFolio by 18.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 84,151 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $20,583,000 after purchasing an additional 13,110 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of AppFolio by 68.0% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 2,142 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $524,000 after buying an additional 867 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of AppFolio by 688.9% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 213 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its position in AppFolio by 147.9% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 238 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of AppFolio by 12.8% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 2,467 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $603,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.19% of the company’s stock.

AppFolio Price Performance

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $253.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $235.99. The company has a market capitalization of $8.46 billion, a PE ratio of 65.15 and a beta of 0.87.

About AppFolio

AppFolio, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides cloud business management solutions for the real estate industry in the United States. The company provides a cloud-based platform that enables users to automate and optimize common workflows; tools that assist with leasing, maintenance, and accounting; and other technology and services offered by third parties.