Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) Stock Price

Appian (NASDAQ:APPN - Get Free Report) had its price objective lowered by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $35.00 to $27.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "equal weight" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley's target price suggests a potential upside of 4.53% from the company's current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Appian from $40.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Appian in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Appian in a research note on Monday, January 6th. They issued a "sector perform" rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $33.67.

Appian Price Performance

Shares of APPN traded down $0.72 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $25.83. The stock had a trading volume of 479,587 shares, compared to its average volume of 548,716. The firm has a market cap of $1.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.50 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.49. Appian has a twelve month low of $24.00 and a twelve month high of $43.33.

Appian (NASDAQ:APPN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.11). Appian had a negative return on equity of 532.05% and a negative net margin of 14.95%. The firm had revenue of $166.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $164.31 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.06 EPS. The company's revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Appian will post -0.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Albert G.W. Biddle III sold 990 shares of the business'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 sale, the director now owns 29,348 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $974,647.08. The trade was a 3.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Abdiel Capital Advisors, Lp sold 57,975 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.52, for a total transaction of $1,711,422.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,121,563 shares in the company, valued at approximately $298,788,539.76. This represents a 0.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 240,510 shares of company stock worth $6,648,635 over the last three months. Insiders own 44.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Appian

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Appian during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in Appian by 27.8% during the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,300 shares of the company's stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 3,498 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Appian in the 4th quarter valued at about $181,000. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Appian by 199.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,935 shares of the company's stock valued at $203,000 after buying an additional 3,953 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.70% of the company's stock.

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.