AppFolio (NASDAQ:APPF) Shares Up 7.5% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of AppFolio, Inc. (NASDAQ:APPF) traded up 7.5% during trading on Tuesday after Zacks Research upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating. The stock traded as high as $181.30 and last traded at $181.3990. Approximately 54,924 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 389,595 shares. The stock had previously closed at $168.74.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on APPF. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of AppFolio from $245.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group set a $210.00 target price on shares of AppFolio in a research note on Friday, April 24th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of AppFolio in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of AppFolio from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of AppFolio in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $232.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $243.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AppFolio news, major shareholder Maurice J. Duca sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total value of $36,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 81,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,666,400. The trade was a 0.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Timothy Mathias Eaton sold 2,585 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.07, for a total transaction of $413,780.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,036 shares in the company, valued at $2,887,022.52. This trade represents a 12.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 43,357 shares of company stock worth $7,614,340. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AppFolio

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APPF. Woodline Partners LP boosted its holdings in AppFolio by 2.9% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 1,754 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of AppFolio by 101.8% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 111 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of AppFolio by 4.8% in the third quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 1,263 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $348,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in AppFolio by 48.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 192 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC boosted its position in AppFolio by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 5,162 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,201,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.19% of the company’s stock.

AppFolio Trading Down 3.3%

The company has a market capitalization of $6.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.36 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $165.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $172.41.

AppFolio (NASDAQ:APPF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The software maker reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $281.12 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $277.35 million. AppFolio had a return on equity of 32.42% and a net margin of 15.13%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.38 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that AppFolio, Inc. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

About AppFolio

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.