AppFolio (NASDAQ:APPF) Stock Rating Upgraded by Benchmark

AppFolio (NASDAQ:APPF) was upgraded by equities researchers at Benchmark to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on APPF. Wall Street Zen upgraded AppFolio from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 15th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of AppFolio in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on AppFolio from $325.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of AppFolio from $350.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of AppFolio from $330.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $263.86.

AppFolio Stock Up 0.0%

AppFolio stock opened at $158.63 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $184.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $223.23. AppFolio has a twelve month low of $155.73 and a twelve month high of $326.04. The company has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a PE ratio of 40.88 and a beta of 0.75.

AppFolio (NASDAQ:APPF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The software maker reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $248.19 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $246.56 million. AppFolio had a return on equity of 29.79% and a net margin of 14.82%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that AppFolio will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at AppFolio

In other AppFolio news, CEO William Shane Trigg sold 6,963 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.73, for a total transaction of $1,181,829.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 52,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,982,111.60. This represents a 11.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 4.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AppFolio

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in AppFolio by 90,272.4% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 52,416 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $12,195,000 after acquiring an additional 52,358 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in AppFolio by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,566 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $830,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in AppFolio by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 416,260 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $96,843,000 after purchasing an additional 20,609 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in AppFolio by 66.7% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 2,105 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $490,000 after purchasing an additional 842 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caitlin John LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AppFolio in the 4th quarter worth about $499,000. 85.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AppFolio Company Profile

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.