Merit Financial Group LLC Has $280,000 Stock Position in ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) by 43.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 886 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in ANSYS were worth $280,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in ANSYS by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,643,766 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,590,462,000 after buying an additional 78,730 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of ANSYS by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,363,744 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $796,033,000 after acquiring an additional 58,190 shares during the period. FIL Ltd lifted its position in shares of ANSYS by 32.5% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,086,177 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $703,730,000 after acquiring an additional 511,557 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new position in shares of ANSYS during the 4th quarter worth $695,129,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of ANSYS during the 4th quarter worth $615,566,000. 92.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ANSS. Wall Street Zen cut ANSYS from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on ANSYS from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Glenda Dorchak sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.01, for a total value of $60,002.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $969,032.30. This represents a 5.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

ANSYS Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of ANSYS stock opened at $346.53 on Thursday. ANSYS, Inc. has a one year low of $275.06 and a one year high of $363.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 3.01 and a quick ratio of 3.01. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $324.44 and its 200 day moving average is $332.70. The firm has a market cap of $30.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.91, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.19.

ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.75 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $504.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $516.81 million. ANSYS had a return on equity of 12.69% and a net margin of 22.62%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.39 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that ANSYS, Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current year.

About ANSYS

ANSYS, Inc develops and markets engineering simulation software and services for engineers, designers, researchers, and students in the United States, Japan, Germany, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. It offers structural analysis product suite that provides simulation tools for product design and optimization; the Ansys Mechanical product, an element analysis software; LS-DYNA solver for multiphysics simulation; and power analysis and optimization software suite.