Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Shares of Appian Corporation (NASDAQ:APPN) gapped up before the market opened on Friday. The stock had previously closed at $35.27, but opened at $38.38. Appian shares last traded at $37.5140, with a volume of 32,329 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APPN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Appian from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Appian from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research raised shares of Appian from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Appian from $34.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Appian from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Appian has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.00.

Appian Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average is $35.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a PE ratio of -247.34 and a beta of 0.92.

Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Appian had a negative net margin of 1.34% and a negative return on equity of 35.20%. The company had revenue of $203.26 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.38 million. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Appian has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.040-1.120 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.310-0.350 EPS. Analysts expect that Appian Corporation will post 0.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Appian

In related news, CEO Matthew Calkins sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.72, for a total transaction of $1,236,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,719,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,497,239.68. This trade represents a 2.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 42.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cim Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Appian by 7.4% during the second quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,000 after acquiring an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Appian during the 2nd quarter valued at $63,000. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of Appian by 35.5% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in Appian by 15.0% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the period. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in Appian in the 2nd quarter worth $1,407,000. 52.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Appian

Appian Corporation develops a low-code platform designed to help organizations build, manage and automate business applications and workflows. Its platform combines process orchestration, data management, artificial intelligence, robotic process automation and case management capabilities, enabling businesses to connect information from multiple systems and coordinate complex operational processes.

Appian provides cloud-based and self-managed deployment options, along with consulting, implementation, training and support services.