ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

Investment analysts at StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday. The firm set a “hold” rating on the software maker’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on ANSS. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on shares of ANSYS from $345.00 to $335.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. KeyCorp began coverage on ANSYS in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. They issued a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $318.33.

ANSYS Stock Performance

Shares of ANSS opened at $319.13 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.08, a PEG ratio of 6.90 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a current ratio of 2.95. ANSYS has a 1 year low of $258.01 and a 1 year high of $364.31. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $319.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $328.16.

ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The software maker reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.92 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $594.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $550.30 million. ANSYS had a return on equity of 11.51% and a net margin of 21.30%. The business’s revenue was up 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.06 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that ANSYS will post 7.05 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Glenda Dorchak sold 159 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.81, for a total value of $52,598.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,782 shares in the company, valued at $1,251,123.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ANSYS

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of ANSYS by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,234,642 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,553,058,000 after buying an additional 73,585 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of ANSYS by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,508,715 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $547,483,000 after purchasing an additional 27,893 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of ANSYS in the 4th quarter valued at about $282,329,000. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of ANSYS by 13.7% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 592,017 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $205,525,000 after purchasing an additional 71,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in ANSYS by 4.6% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 522,613 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $167,985,000 after purchasing an additional 22,836 shares in the last quarter. 92.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.