Wall Street Zen Upgrades AppFolio (NASDAQ:APPF) to Buy

AppFolio (NASDAQ:APPF) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

APPF has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of AppFolio from $245.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of AppFolio in a report on Monday, July 6th. UBS Group set a $210.00 price objective on shares of AppFolio in a report on Friday, April 24th. Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of AppFolio from $222.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of AppFolio from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $252.29.

AppFolio Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ APPF opened at $179.73 on Friday. AppFolio has a fifty-two week low of $142.56 and a fifty-two week high of $326.04. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $163.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.79. The firm has a market cap of $6.36 billion, a PE ratio of 42.79 and a beta of 0.79.

AppFolio (NASDAQ:APPF) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The software maker reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $262.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.13 million. AppFolio had a return on equity of 32.35% and a net margin of 15.27%.AppFolio’s quarterly revenue was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.21 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that AppFolio will post 5.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AppFolio

In related news, CFO Timothy Mathias Eaton sold 2,585 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.07, for a total transaction of $413,780.95. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,036 shares in the company, valued at $2,887,022.52. This trade represents a 12.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Elizabeth Erin Barat sold 1,978 shares of AppFolio stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.12, for a total transaction of $312,761.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 21,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,406,695.40. This represents a 8.41% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 30,657 shares of company stock worth $5,310,740. 1.57% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in AppFolio by 22.6% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 45,452 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $9,993,000 after acquiring an additional 8,367 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in AppFolio by 23.5% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 384 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $84,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in AppFolio by 237.7% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 18,055 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,970,000 after acquiring an additional 12,709 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in AppFolio by 164.8% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 654 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $144,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AppFolio by 322.5% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 66,777 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $14,684,000 after purchasing an additional 50,970 shares during the last quarter. 85.19% of the stock is currently owned by 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.