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

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

ANSYS Price Performance

ANSS traded up $6.71 during trading on Friday, reaching $333.75. The stock had a trading volume of 251,788 shares, compared to its average volume of 322,008. The stock has a market cap of $29.14 billion, a PE ratio of 58.25, a PEG ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 2.30 and a current ratio of 2.30. ANSYS has a one year low of $258.01 and a one year high of $364.31. The business has a 50-day moving average of $336.80 and a 200-day moving average of $321.51.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ANSS. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ANSYS by 3.0% in the third quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,925 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $870,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of ANSYS by 11.7% in the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 363 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its stake in shares of ANSYS by 5.2% in the third quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of ANSYS by 47.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 15,169 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,514,000 after purchasing an additional 4,910 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in shares of ANSYS by 5.9% in the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 17,783 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $5,291,000 after purchasing an additional 984 shares during the last quarter. 92.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.