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

Appian Co. (NASDAQ:APPN) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors bought 11,661 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 819% compared to the average daily volume of 1,269 put options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Abdiel Capital Advisors, Lp sold 78,528 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.49, for a total value of $2,080,206.72. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,942,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $263,367,288.60. The trade was a 0.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Albert G.W. Biddle III sold 990 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.21, for a total value of $32,877.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 29,348 shares in the company, valued at $974,647.08. The trade was a 3.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 380,560 shares of company stock worth $11,124,633 over the last three months. Company insiders own 43.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Appian

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Appian in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Appian by 21.7% in the 1st quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 2,581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Appian by 27.8% in the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Appian by 2,052.0% in the first quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 4,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,000 after acquiring an additional 4,022 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Appian by 1,244.8% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 3,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 3,498 shares during the last quarter. 52.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. DA Davidson increased their target price on Appian from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Appian from $37.00 to $34.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Appian from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Appian from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Appian from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.29.

Appian Price Performance

Shares of APPN traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $32.51. 193,403 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 557,911. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $29.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.30. Appian has a 12 month low of $24.00 and a 12 month high of $43.33. The stock has a market cap of $2.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.79 and a beta of 1.83.

Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.10. Appian had a negative net margin of 14.95% and a negative return on equity of 532.05%. The business had revenue of $166.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $163.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.24) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Appian will post -0.28 earnings per share for the current year.

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.