Wall Street Zen Downgrades AppFolio (NASDAQ:APPF) to Hold

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

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings cut AppFolio from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “buy” rating on shares of AppFolio in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on AppFolio from $311.00 to $290.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group set a $260.00 price target on AppFolio and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AppFolio presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $270.83.

AppFolio Trading Up 0.7%

APPF stock opened at $191.17 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.27 and a beta of 0.75. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $200.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $232.90. AppFolio has a 12-month low of $161.13 and a 12-month high of $326.04.

AppFolio (NASDAQ:APPF) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The software maker reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 earnings per share. AppFolio’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that AppFolio will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 52,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,982,111.60. This represents a 11.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 4.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AppFolio

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in APPF. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in AppFolio by 22.6% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 45,452 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $9,993,000 after purchasing an additional 8,367 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of AppFolio by 23.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 384 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AppFolio by 237.7% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 18,055 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,970,000 after buying an additional 12,709 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of AppFolio by 164.8% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 654 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $144,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of AppFolio by 322.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 66,777 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $14,684,000 after buying an additional 50,970 shares during the period. 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.