Asana (NYSE:ASAN) Shares Up 6.8% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Asana shares rose 6.8% on Thursday, trading as high as $6.82 before closing near $6.85. Volume was sharply below average, with about 515,188 shares traded versus a 5.9 million average.
• Recent analyst commentary on Asana remains mixed, but the consensus is cautious: the stock carries an average "Hold" rating and a price target of $12.32. Several firms have recently cut their targets, including Citigroup, Jefferies, Piper Sandler, and UBS.
• Asana’s latest earnings beat expectations, reporting $0.08 EPS versus the $0.07 estimate and revenue of $205.57 million, up 9.2% year over year. However, the company is still unprofitable, and analysts expect a loss of -$0.53 EPS for the current year.

Asana, Inc. (NYSE:ASAN - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 6.8% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $6.82 and last traded at $6.8490. 515,188 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 5,910,379 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.41.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ASAN shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Asana in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Asana from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Asana from $15.00 to $8.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $7.00 price objective (down from $9.00) on shares of Asana in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Asana from $16.00 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $12.32.

Asana Stock Up 3.5%

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.31 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $6.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.43.

Asana (NYSE:ASAN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $205.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $205.13 million. Asana had a negative return on equity of 77.05% and a negative net margin of 23.90%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Asana, Inc. will post -0.53 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Asana news, CFO Sonalee Elizabeth Parekh sold 18,717 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.62, for a total value of $123,906.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 915,281 shares in the company, valued at $6,059,160.22. This represents a 2.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Veronica Sosa sold 6,479 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.65, for a total value of $43,085.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 73,722 shares of the company's stock, valued at $490,251.30. This trade represents a 8.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 70,226 shares of company stock worth $472,065 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 61.28% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Asana

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Asana by 1,162.2% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 413,331 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,522,000 after purchasing an additional 380,583 shares in the last quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Asana by 42.9% in the third quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 210,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,806,000 after purchasing an additional 63,000 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Asana by 21.6% in the third quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 22,490 shares of the company's stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 4,002 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Asana by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 16,468 shares of the company's stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 1,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 180 Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Asana by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,489 shares of the company's stock valued at $171,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares in the last quarter. 26.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Asana

Asana, Inc NYSE: ASAN is a leading provider of work management and collaboration software designed to help teams organize, track and manage their work. Founded in 2008 by Dustin Moskovitz and Justin Rosenstein, Asana's platform enables users to create projects, assign tasks, set deadlines and visualize progress across diverse workflows. The company's cloud-based solution includes customizable project templates, timeline views, boards and automated rules that streamline routine processes and reduce manual effort.

Built for both small teams and large enterprises, Asana supports integrations with a wide array of third-party applications, including communication tools, file-sharing services and DevOps platforms.

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