ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Friday.

ANSS has been the subject of several other reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on ANSYS from $350.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on ANSYS from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday.

ANSYS Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ANSS opened at $334.21 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $342.69 and a 200 day moving average of $333.19. The company has a market cap of $29.29 billion, a PE ratio of 51.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 3.01, a quick ratio of 3.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. ANSYS has a 12-month low of $289.82 and a 12-month high of $363.03.

ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The software maker reported $3.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.97 by ($0.32). ANSYS had a return on equity of 12.69% and a net margin of 22.62%. The business had revenue of $882.17 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $864.46 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that ANSYS will post 8.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at ANSYS

In other news, Director Glenda Dorchak sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.62, for a total transaction of $67,324.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,154,606.60. This represents a 5.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ANSYS

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in ANSYS by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 8,265 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,788,000 after buying an additional 555 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP raised its holdings in ANSYS by 26.5% during the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 1,197 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $404,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in ANSYS by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 49,378 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $16,657,000 after buying an additional 1,603 shares during the period. North Star Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in ANSYS by 25.7% in the fourth quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,579 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,882,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139 shares during the period. Finally, GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in ANSYS in the fourth quarter worth $5,591,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.39% of the company’s stock.

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.