Ninety One North America Inc. Raises Holdings in ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS)

Ninety One North America Inc. lifted its holdings in ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) by 49.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 29,863 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,863 shares during the quarter. Ninety One North America Inc.’s holdings in ANSYS were worth $10,837,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in ANSYS by 167.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,286,790 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $382,884,000 after purchasing an additional 805,657 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in ANSYS in the fourth quarter worth about $169,860,000. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its stake in ANSYS by 63.6% in the first quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 1,265,997 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $421,324,000 after purchasing an additional 491,935 shares during the last quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt bought a new stake in ANSYS in the fourth quarter worth about $145,144,000. Finally, Comerica Bank lifted its stake in ANSYS by 1,922.9% in the third quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 329,577 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $98,066,000 after purchasing an additional 313,285 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ANSS. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of ANSYS from $350.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of ANSYS from $314.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $345.00 price target on shares of ANSYS in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed a “peer perform” rating on shares of ANSYS in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ANSYS in a research note on Monday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $322.75.

ANSYS Stock Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ ANSS traded down $2.61 on Thursday, hitting $323.01. The stock had a trading volume of 54,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 709,773. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $337.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $319.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.30 and a quick ratio of 2.30. ANSYS, Inc. has a 52-week low of $258.01 and a 52-week high of $364.31. The stock has a market cap of $28.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 1.16.

ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The software maker reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.71 by $0.23. ANSYS had a net margin of 22.05% and a return on equity of 11.83%. The business had revenue of $805.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $797.49 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.61 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that ANSYS, Inc. will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at ANSYS

In other ANSYS news, Director Glenda Dorchak sold 150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.08, for a total value of $51,312.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,049 shares in the company, valued at $1,043,001.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.