Royal Bank Of Canada Upgrades Asana (NYSE:ASAN) to Sector Perform

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Asana (NYSE:ASAN) from "underperform" to "sector perform" with a $7.00 price target, implying roughly a 9.5% upside from the prior close.
• Multiple brokers have recently cut price targets (Jefferies, UBS, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, KeyCorp), leaving a consensus rating of Hold and an average analyst target of $12.46.
• Asana slightly beat quarterly EPS and grew revenue 9.2% year-over-year but remains unprofitable (net margin -23.9%, negative ROE), and insiders sold about 70,226 shares (~$472k) during the last quarter despite holding a large stake.

Asana (NYSE:ASAN - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from an "underperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a report issued on Wednesday,Finviz reports. The brokerage presently has a $7.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada's price target points to a potential upside of 9.46% from the company's previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on ASAN. Jefferies Financial Group lowered 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. Citigroup cut their target price on Asana from $16.00 to $13.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Asana from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Asana from $16.00 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Asana from $14.00 to $8.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $12.46.

Asana Stock Performance

ASAN stock opened at $6.40 on Wednesday. The company's 50 day moving average price is $7.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.56. Asana has a fifty-two week low of $5.87 and a fifty-two week high of $19.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.99 and a beta of 1.01.

Asana (NYSE:ASAN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $205.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $205.13 million. Asana had a negative net margin of 23.90% and a negative return on equity of 77.05%. Asana's quarterly revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Asana will post -1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Asana

In other news, CAO Veronica Sosa sold 6,479 shares of the 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 directly owned 73,722 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $490,251.30. This represents a 8.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Sonalee Elizabeth Parekh sold 18,717 shares of Asana stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.62, for a total transaction of $123,906.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 915,281 shares in the company, valued at $6,059,160.22. The trade was a 2.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 70,226 shares of company stock worth $472,065. 61.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC raised 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 buying an additional 798 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC increased its position in Asana by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 22,527 shares of the company's stock valued at $301,000 after acquiring an additional 930 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Asana by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 27,606 shares of the company's stock worth $369,000 after acquiring an additional 968 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Asana by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 16,412 shares of the company's stock worth $225,000 after acquiring an additional 1,188 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Asana by 119.7% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,553 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,391 shares during the last quarter. 26.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Asana Company Profile

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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