Benchmark Initiates Coverage on AppFolio (NASDAQ:APPF)

Research analysts at Benchmark started coverage on shares of AppFolio (NASDAQ:APPF) in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $222.00 price target on the software maker’s stock. Benchmark’s target price suggests a potential upside of 40.00% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of AppFolio from $350.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group set a $260.00 target price on AppFolio and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of AppFolio in a report on Friday, January 30th. Wall Street Zen raised AppFolio from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 15th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of AppFolio in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $263.86.

AppFolio Stock Performance

Shares of AppFolio stock opened at $158.57 on Thursday. AppFolio has a 52-week low of $155.73 and a 52-week high of $326.04. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $185.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $223.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.87 and a beta of 0.75.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO William Shane Trigg sold 6,963 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.73, for a total value of $1,181,829.99. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,982,111.60. This trade represents a 11.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 4.68% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AppFolio

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of APPF. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in AppFolio by 101.8% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 111 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of AppFolio during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of AppFolio by 2,116.7% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 133 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Corp bought a new position in shares of AppFolio in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AppFolio by 373.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 142 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. 85.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About AppFolio

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.