Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 115,864 Shares of Autodesk, Inc. $ADSK

Key Points

• Clearbridge Investments trimmed its Autodesk stake by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 115,864 shares and leaving it with 1.84 million shares valued at about $546 million.
• Autodesk continues to draw strong institutional interest, with firms like Norges Bank, Northwestern Mutual, and Wellington Management making large moves in the stock; institutions now own 90.24% of the company.
• Analysts remain generally positive despite some target cuts, and Autodesk recently beat earnings expectations with $2.99 EPS on $1.93 billion in revenue, while also highlighting growth initiatives such as an AWS collaboration and a cheaper Autodesk Flex offering for small businesses.

Clearbridge Investments LLC lowered its stake in Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK - Free Report) by 5.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,844,472 shares of the software company's stock after selling 115,864 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned 0.87% of Autodesk worth $545,982,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ADSK. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Autodesk in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $867,480,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in Autodesk by 44,345.8% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,280,515 shares of the software company's stock valued at $675,055,000 after purchasing an additional 2,275,384 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Autodesk by 326.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 918,010 shares of the software company's stock valued at $291,624,000 after purchasing an additional 702,974 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Autodesk by 197.1% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 910,768 shares of the software company's stock valued at $289,324,000 after purchasing an additional 604,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its position in Autodesk by 51,159.6% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 512,596 shares of the software company's stock valued at $162,836,000 after purchasing an additional 511,596 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.24% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on ADSK shares. Arete Research lowered their price objective on Autodesk from $460.00 to $456.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Autodesk from $365.00 to $341.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Autodesk from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Autodesk in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Autodesk from $355.00 to $312.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Autodesk presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $327.21.

Autodesk News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Autodesk this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Autodesk signed a strategic collaboration agreement with AWS to bring cloud-based products into AWS Marketplace and improve cloud solutions for customers, which could widen distribution and strengthen enterprise adoption. Autodesk signs strategic collaboration agreement with Amazon Web Services
• Positive Sentiment: Autodesk lowered the minimum buy-in for Autodesk Flex to 33 tokens for $99 from 100 tokens for $300, making it easier and cheaper for small businesses to start using its products and potentially expanding its user base. Autodesk for Small Business update: Making it more affordable to get started with Autodesk Flex

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Stacy J. Smith purchased 3,435 shares of Autodesk stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $231.17 per share, with a total value of $794,068.95. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 26,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,129,934.89. This trade represents a 14.88% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Autodesk Price Performance

ADSK opened at $229.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.83. Autodesk, Inc. has a 52-week low of $214.10 and a 52-week high of $329.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.52 billion, a PE ratio of 33.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.29. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $237.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $258.17.

Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The software company reported $2.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.15. Autodesk had a return on equity of 57.14% and a net margin of 19.49%.The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Autodesk has set its FY 2027 guidance at 12.400-12.650 EPS and its Q2 2027 guidance at 3.100-3.140 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Autodesk, Inc. will post 9.55 EPS for the current year.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc NASDAQ: ADSK is a software company that develops design and creation tools for the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC), manufacturing, and media and entertainment industries. Headquartered in San Rafael, California, the company was founded in 1982 and is best known for pioneering CAD (computer-aided design) software. Autodesk sells products and services to a global customer base, including architects, engineers, contractors, product designers, and content creators.

The company's product portfolio includes industry-standard design and modeling applications such as AutoCAD, Revit, Inventor, Fusion 360, Maya and 3ds Max, as well as cloud-based collaboration and project management platforms like BIM 360 and Autodesk Construction Cloud.

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