Zacks Research Upgrades Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) to "Strong-Buy"

Key Points

• Zacks Research upgraded Appian from “hold” to “strong-buy.” Despite the upgrade, analysts’ consensus rating remains “hold,” with an average price target of $44.33.
• Appian beat quarterly estimates, reporting EPS of $0.51 versus $0.33 expected and revenue of $234.63 million versus $216.94 million expected. Revenue grew 25.5% year over year.
• CEO Matthew Calkins sold 30,000 shares for approximately $1.56 million under a pre-arranged trading plan; he retained about 1.55 million shares after the sale.

Appian (NASDAQ:APPN - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued on Monday, Zacks reports.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Appian from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, October 17th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Appian from $30.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Appian from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Appian from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Appian from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $44.33.

Appian Stock Performance

Shares of Appian stock opened at $52.35 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -654.38 and a beta of 0.83. Appian has a fifty-two week low of $18.63 and a fifty-two week high of $56.38. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $41.90 and a 200 day moving average of $29.77.

Appian (NASDAQ:APPN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.18. Appian had a negative return on equity of 43.13% and a negative net margin of 0.72%. The company had revenue of $234.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $216.94 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 25.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Appian has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.200-1.240 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.300-0.340 EPS. Analysts forecast that Appian will post 0.51 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Matthew Calkins sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.98, for a total transaction of $1,559,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,554,144 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $80,784,405.12. This represents a 1.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 120,000 shares of company stock worth $4,830,450 over the last 90 days. 42.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Appian

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Appian by 24.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 95,448 shares of the company's stock worth $3,366,000 after buying an additional 18,549 shares in the last quarter. Focus Advisor Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Appian in the third quarter worth $250,000. HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Appian in the third quarter worth $214,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Appian by 21.5% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 333,280 shares of the company's stock worth $11,764,000 after acquiring an additional 58,866 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Appian during the third quarter worth $311,000. 52.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Appian Company Profile

Appian Corporation develops a low-code platform that helps organizations build and manage business applications and automate complex processes. Its offerings combine application development tools with capabilities for workflow automation, case management, robotic process automation, and process mining. Founded in 1999 by Matt Calkins, Appian serves businesses and government organizations in a range of industries, including financial services, insurance, healthcare, life sciences, and the public sector.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.