AppFolio, Inc. $APPF Shares Bought by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of AppFolio, Inc. (NASDAQ:APPF) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,245,949 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 79,197 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in AppFolio were worth $289,880,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in shares of AppFolio by 1,643.8% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 96,153 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $22,370,000 after purchasing an additional 90,639 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new position in shares of AppFolio during the fourth quarter worth $8,795,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of AppFolio during the third quarter worth $8,275,000. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in shares of AppFolio by 140.3% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 15,641 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,312,000 after purchasing an additional 9,132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AppFolio by 2.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,458,994 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $677,846,000 after purchasing an additional 55,277 shares in the last quarter. 85.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APPF has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AppFolio in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on AppFolio from $245.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group set a $210.00 price target on AppFolio in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on AppFolio from $311.00 to $290.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Benchmark boosted their price target on AppFolio from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $252.29.

Insider Transactions at AppFolio

In other AppFolio news, CEO William Shane Trigg sold 6,963 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.73, for a total transaction of $1,181,829.99. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 52,920 shares in the company, valued at $8,982,111.60. This represents a 11.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 4.68% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AppFolio Price Performance

APPF opened at $172.76 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.11 billion, a PE ratio of 41.13 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $165.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $203.40. AppFolio, Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.73 and a 12-month high of $326.04.

AppFolio (NASDAQ:APPF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The software maker reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.14. AppFolio had a return on equity of 32.35% and a net margin of 15.27%.The firm had revenue of $262.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $258.13 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.21 earnings per share. AppFolio’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AppFolio, Inc. will post 5.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AppFolio Profile

AppFolio, Inc is a Santa Barbara–based provider of cloud-based software solutions for the property management and legal industries. Founded in 2006 by former software executives, the company went public on the NASDAQ under the symbol APPF in 2015. Its original offering, AppFolio Property Manager, automates accounting, marketing, leasing, and maintenance functions for residential, commercial, student housing, and community association managers.

In 2019, AppFolio expanded its portfolio with the acquisition of MyCase, a web-based legal practice management platform for small to mid-size law firms.