Insider Selling: Bentley Systems (NASDAQ:BSY) Director Sells $4,518,000.00 in Stock

Bentley Systems, Incorporated (NASDAQ:BSY) Director Keith Bentley sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.18, for a total value of $4,518,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,745,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $169,210,575.72. This trade represents a 2.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Bentley Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BSY traded down $0.25 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $44.19. The company had a trading volume of 2,145,609 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,891,458. Bentley Systems, Incorporated has a twelve month low of $28.08 and a twelve month high of $48.17. The stock has a market cap of $12.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.61.

Bentley Systems (NASDAQ:BSY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $421.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $420.69 million. Bentley Systems had a return on equity of 29.99% and a net margin of 19.57%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Bentley Systems, Incorporated will post 1.20 earnings per share for the current year.

Bentley Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.07 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 22nd. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Bentley Systems’s payout ratio is 27.45%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Bentley Systems by 253.6% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,781,449 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,924,000 after acquiring an additional 3,429,087 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Bentley Systems during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $78,738,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Bentley Systems by 405.2% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,961,505 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,573,218 shares during the period. Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Bentley Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,807,000. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in Bentley Systems by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 5,235,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,260,000 after purchasing an additional 867,821 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 44.16% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BSY has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Bentley Systems from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 6th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Bentley Systems in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Bentley Systems from $43.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Bentley Systems from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on Bentley Systems from $42.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 6th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.67.

About Bentley Systems

Bentley Systems develops software for professionals who design, build, and operate infrastructure. Its customers include engineering firms, architects, construction companies, and infrastructure owners and operators working on projects such as roads, railways, buildings, utilities, and industrial facilities. The company’s products support computer-aided design, project collaboration, infrastructure asset management, and digital twin development. Its software portfolio includes MicroStation for design and modeling, ProjectWise for project information management, and the iTwin platform for creating and working with digital representations of infrastructure assets.