Highland Capital Management LLC Buys New Position in AppFolio, Inc. $APPF

Highland Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in AppFolio, Inc. (NASDAQ:APPF) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,204 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,435,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AppFolio by 73.6% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 733,428 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $168,894,000 after purchasing an additional 310,834 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in AppFolio by 0.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 438,522 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $100,999,000 after purchasing an additional 1,458 shares during the last quarter. Long Walk Management LP grew its position in AppFolio by 78.5% in the second quarter. Long Walk Management LP now owns 276,325 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $63,632,000 after purchasing an additional 121,525 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in AppFolio by 76.3% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 222,889 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $51,327,000 after buying an additional 96,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in AppFolio by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 221,812 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $51,079,000 after buying an additional 13,493 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at AppFolio

In other AppFolio news, CFO Timothy Mathias Eaton sold 517 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.34, for a total transaction of $118,051.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 10,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,307,147.36. This trade represents a 4.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Evan Pickering sold 334 shares of AppFolio stock in a transaction on Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.67, for a total transaction of $81,385.78. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 2,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $723,456.23. This trade represents a 10.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,745 shares of company stock worth $2,097,550. Company insiders own 4.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on APPF shares. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of AppFolio in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. UBS Group began coverage on AppFolio in a report on Friday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $285.00 target price on the stock. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of AppFolio in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of AppFolio in a research report on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded AppFolio from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $311.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $306.00.

AppFolio Stock Performance

AppFolio stock opened at $237.29 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $237.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $251.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.60 and a beta of 0.80. AppFolio, Inc. has a 52 week low of $190.24 and a 52 week high of $326.04.

AppFolio (NASDAQ:APPF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The software maker reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.45 by ($0.14). AppFolio had a net margin of 22.48% and a return on equity of 25.97%. The business had revenue of $249.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.39 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.29 EPS. AppFolio’s quarterly revenue was up 21.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that AppFolio, Inc. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

AppFolio Company 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.