Short Interest in ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) Drops By 16.8%

ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) saw a large decline in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,240,000 shares, a decline of 16.8% from the March 31st total of 1,490,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 534,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days. Approximately 1.4% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $345.00 price objective on shares of ANSYS in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ANSYS in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of ANSYS from $350.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Wolfe Research reiterated a “peer perform” rating on shares of ANSYS in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of ANSYS from $314.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $320.00.

ANSYS Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of ANSS stock opened at $329.87 on Tuesday. ANSYS has a 52-week low of $258.01 and a 52-week high of $364.31. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $336.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $321.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.30 and a current ratio of 2.30. The company has a market capitalization of $28.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.57, a PEG ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 1.16.

ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The software maker reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.71 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $805.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $797.49 million. ANSYS had a return on equity of 11.83% and a net margin of 22.05%. ANSYS’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.61 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that ANSYS will post 7.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at ANSYS

In other ANSYS news, Director Glenda Dorchak sold 150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 3,049 shares in the company, valued at $1,043,001.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ANSYS

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ANSS. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in ANSYS by 167.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,286,790 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $382,884,000 after buying an additional 805,657 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in ANSYS in the fourth quarter valued at about $282,329,000. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt bought a new position in shares of ANSYS during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $145,144,000. Comerica Bank increased its stake in shares of ANSYS by 1,922.9% during the 3rd 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. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of ANSYS by 210.1% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 325,000 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $117,936,000 after purchasing an additional 220,200 shares during the period. 92.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ANSYS Company Profile

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.