Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $315.45 and last traded at $315.15, with a volume of 282478 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $309.73.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup set a $325.00 target price on Autodesk and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Autodesk from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $225.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Autodesk from $290.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Autodesk from $239.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Mizuho set a $260.00 price target on Autodesk in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Autodesk presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.95.

Autodesk Trading Up 1.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.64. The company’s 50 day moving average is $278.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $249.83. The firm has a market cap of $67.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.21, a PEG ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 1.47.

Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The software company reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. Autodesk had a net margin of 18.21% and a return on equity of 59.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.12 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Autodesk, Inc. will post 5.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Autodesk

In other news, COO Steven M. Blum sold 17,344 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.00, for a total transaction of $4,682,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,616,730. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CAO Stephen W. Hope sold 286 shares of Autodesk stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.84, for a total transaction of $78,604.24. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,340,944.36. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Steven M. Blum sold 17,344 shares of Autodesk stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.00, for a total transaction of $4,682,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,616,730. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,280 shares of company stock valued at $5,200,929. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Autodesk

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Autodesk by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,402,242 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $5,052,732,000 after buying an additional 363,565 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Autodesk by 263.6% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,294,746 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,639,279,000 after buying an additional 4,563,668 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Autodesk by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,653,602 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,557,454,000 after purchasing an additional 46,069 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its holdings in Autodesk by 28.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 5,071,950 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,255,054,000 after purchasing an additional 1,108,973 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Autodesk by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,192,345 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $603,947,000 after purchasing an additional 245,816 shares during the period. 90.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc provides 3D design, engineering, and entertainment technology solutions worldwide. The company offers AutoCAD Civil 3D, a surveying, design, analysis, and documentation solution for civil engineering, including land development, transportation, and environmental projects; BuildingConnected, a SaaS preconstruction solution; AutoCAD, a software for professional design, drafting, detailing, and visualization; AutoCAD LT, a drafting and detailing software; computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software for computer numeric control machining, inspection, and modelling for manufacturing; Fusion 360, a 3D CAD, CAM, and computer-aided engineering tool; and Industry Collections tools for professionals in architecture, engineering and construction, product design and manufacturing, and media and entertainment collection industries.