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

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in AppFolio, Inc. (NASDAQ:APPF) by 20.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,505,882 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 259,933 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in AppFolio were worth $237,665,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of APPF. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in AppFolio by 101.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 111 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of AppFolio by 48.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 192 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AppFolio during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Employees Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in AppFolio in the third quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in AppFolio in the third quarter valued at approximately $69,000. 85.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AppFolio news, CEO William Shane Trigg sold 3,584 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.50, for a total value of $546,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 76,547 shares in the company, valued at $11,673,417.50. The trade was a 4.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, General Counsel Evan Pickering sold 660 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.25, for a total value of $102,465.00. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 6,555 shares in the company, valued at $1,017,663.75. This represents a 9.15% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 30,657 shares of company stock worth $5,310,740 over the last three months. 1.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on APPF shares. UBS Group set a $210.00 price objective on AppFolio in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings lowered AppFolio from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Benchmark raised their price objective on AppFolio from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of AppFolio in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of AppFolio from $245.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $252.29.

AppFolio Trading Down 3.0%

APPF opened at $174.46 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $162.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $177.01. AppFolio, Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.56 and a 12-month high of $326.04. The firm has a market cap of $6.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.54 and a beta of 0.79.

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