First Trust Advisors LP Raises Position in Appian Co. (NASDAQ:APPN)

First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Appian Co. (NASDAQ:APPN - Free Report) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,263,405 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 83,708 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 1.48% of Appian worth $41,667,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of APPN. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Appian during the fourth quarter worth about $4,918,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in Appian by 184.9% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 201,245 shares of the company's stock worth $6,637,000 after buying an additional 130,606 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Appian by 418.8% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 160,793 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,303,000 after buying an additional 129,800 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Appian in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,046,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in Appian in the 4th quarter valued at $2,014,000. 52.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

APPN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Appian from $35.00 to $27.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Appian from $37.00 to $34.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Appian from $40.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays decreased their price target on Appian from $37.00 to $28.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Appian from $53.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $34.14.

Insider Activity at Appian

In other news, major shareholder Abdiel Capital Advisors, Lp sold 57,975 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.52, for a total value of $1,711,422.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,121,563 shares in the company, valued at $298,788,539.76. This represents a 0.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Albert G.W. Biddle III sold 990 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $32,877.90. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 29,348 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $974,647.08. This trade represents a 3.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 240,510 shares of company stock valued at $6,648,635 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 44.00% of the company's stock.

Appian Stock Performance

NASDAQ:APPN traded down $0.27 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $31.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 228,083 shares, compared to its average volume of 553,315. Appian Co. has a 52-week low of $24.00 and a 52-week high of $43.33. The business's 50-day moving average is $29.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.35. The company has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a PE ratio of -24.62 and a beta of 1.78.

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

Appian 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.