Arizona State Retirement System Trims Position in Appian Co. (NASDAQ:APPN)

Arizona State Retirement System reduced its position in Appian Co. (NASDAQ:APPN) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 8,955 shares of the company’s stock after selling 505 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Appian were worth $295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Appian by 199.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,953 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Appian in the 4th quarter worth about $208,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in Appian in the 3rd quarter valued at about $266,000. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Appian during the 3rd quarter valued at about $291,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in shares of Appian by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 8,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $284,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the period. 52.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Appian Trading Up 4.0 %

Shares of APPN stock opened at $30.18 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.28. Appian Co. has a 52 week low of $26.28 and a 52 week high of $43.33. The company has a market cap of $2.23 billion, a PE ratio of -23.95 and a beta of 1.65.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Appian

In other Appian news, Director Albert G.W. Biddle III sold 990 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.21, for a total value of $32,877.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 29,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $974,647.08. This represents a 3.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 44.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Appian from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Appian in a report on Monday, January 6th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Appian in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.17.

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.