Appian Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:APPN)

Appian Co. (NASDAQ:APPN) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders acquired 11,091 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 705% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,378 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Appian

In related news, major shareholder Abdiel Capital Advisors, Lp sold 100,665 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.67, for a total transaction of $3,288,725.55. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,514,401 shares in the company, valued at approximately $310,835,480.67. This represents a 1.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 2,258,145 shares of company stock worth $71,160,372 over the last three months. 43.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Appian in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its holdings in Appian by 21.7% in the first 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 period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in Appian by 27.8% in the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Appian by 2,052.0% during the 1st quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 4,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,000 after buying an additional 4,022 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Appian by 1,244.8% in 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. Institutional investors own 52.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Appian Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ APPN traded up $0.75 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $30.21. 198,023 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 559,947. Appian has a 12-month low of $24.00 and a 12-month high of $43.33. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $30.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.33. The firm has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -23.96 and a beta of 1.75.

Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.10. Appian had a negative return on equity of 532.05% and a negative net margin of 14.95%. The business had revenue of $166.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $163.27 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.24) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect 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.