ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS) Hits New 12-Month High - What's Next?

ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS - Get Free Report) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $369.25 and last traded at $366.87, with a volume of 623728 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $366.90.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wall Street Zen lowered ANSYS from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th.

ANSYS Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $33.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.88, a PEG ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $342.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $333.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 3.66 and a quick ratio of 3.66.

ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.75 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $504.89 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $516.81 million. ANSYS had a return on equity of 12.38% and a net margin of 22.95%. ANSYS's revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.39 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that ANSYS, Inc. will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Glenda Dorchak sold 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.01, for a total transaction of $60,002.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at $969,032.30. This trade represents a 5.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new position in shares of ANSYS in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $695,129,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of ANSYS in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $615,566,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of ANSYS by 46,802.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 727,455 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $230,283,000 after acquiring an additional 725,904 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its holdings in ANSYS by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,086,177 shares of the software maker's stock worth $703,730,000 after buying an additional 511,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in ANSYS by 2.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,903,178 shares of the software maker's stock worth $3,451,510,000 after buying an additional 259,412 shares during the last quarter. 92.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.