Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for AppFolio (NASDAQ:APPF) Stock

Key Points

• Keefe, Bruyette & Woods has raised the price target for AppFolio (NASDAQ:APPF) from $295.00 to $311.00, suggesting a potential upside of 13.85%.
• AppFolio's stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with four analysts recommending a Buy and two a Hold.
• In the latest quarter, AppFolio reported earnings of $1.38 EPS, exceeding analyst expectations and showing a 19.4% revenue increase year-over-year.

AppFolio (NASDAQ:APPF - Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $295.00 to $311.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "market perform" rating on the software maker's stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' price target would indicate a potential upside of 13.85% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on APPF. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of AppFolio in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Piper Sandler upgraded AppFolio from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $240.00 to $350.00 in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $311.80.

AppFolio Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:APPF traded down $0.38 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $273.16. 20,261 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 313,229. The company has a market cap of $9.79 billion, a PE ratio of 49.31 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $262.50 and a 200 day moving average of $232.84. AppFolio has a 52-week low of $189.01 and a 52-week high of $326.04.

AppFolio (NASDAQ:APPF - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The software maker reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $235.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $230.10 million. AppFolio had a return on equity of 26.32% and a net margin of 23.54%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.12 earnings per share. AppFolio has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that AppFolio will post 3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Timothy Mathias Eaton sold 667 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.58, for a total value of $184,478.86. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 11,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,081,654.36. This trade represents a 5.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Maurice J. Duca sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.57, for a total value of $688,925.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 55,795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,375,428.15. This represents a 4.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have acquired 18,500 shares of company stock worth $4,024,220 and have sold 53,985 shares worth $15,348,953. 4.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of APPF. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AppFolio in the fourth quarter worth about $103,503,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its stake 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 worth $168,894,000 after purchasing an additional 310,834 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of AppFolio by 121.2% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 401,888 shares of the software maker's stock worth $88,375,000 after purchasing an additional 220,239 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of AppFolio by 4,272.4% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 172,972 shares of the software maker's stock worth $38,037,000 after purchasing an additional 169,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of AppFolio in the first quarter worth about $35,896,000. 85.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About AppFolio

AppFolio, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides cloud business management solutions for the real estate industry in the United States. The company provides a cloud-based platform that enables users to automate and optimize common workflows; tools that assist with leasing, maintenance, and accounting; and other technology and services offered by third parties.

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