ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) Shares Sold by Marshall Wace LLP

Marshall Wace LLP lessened its holdings in shares of ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS - Free Report) by 9.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,859 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 7,221 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP owned approximately 0.08% of ANSYS worth $24,240,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ANSS. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new position in ANSYS during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in ANSYS by 468.2% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 125 shares of the software maker's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in ANSYS during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in ANSYS during the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of ANSYS by 33.7% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 258 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. 92.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ANSS shares. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on ANSYS from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com upgraded ANSYS from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling at ANSYS

In other news, Director Glenda Dorchak sold 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.01, for a total value of $60,002.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,230 shares in the company, valued at $969,032.30. This trade represents a 5.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

ANSYS Stock Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ ANSS traded up $2.39 during trading on Friday, reaching $318.75. 162,975 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 480,507. ANSYS, Inc. has a 12-month low of $275.06 and a 12-month high of $363.03. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $316.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $331.86. The firm has a market cap of $27.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 3.01 and a quick ratio of 3.01.

ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The software maker reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.97 by ($0.32). ANSYS had a return on equity of 12.69% and a net margin of 22.62%. The firm had revenue of $882.17 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $864.46 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ANSYS, Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ANSYS 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.