Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) Short Interest Up 16.7% in March

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,650,000 shares, a growth of 16.7% from the March 15th total of 2,270,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,290,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Autodesk news, Director Mary T. Mcdowell sold 550 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.28, for a total transaction of $132,154.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 41,816 shares in the company, valued at $10,047,548.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Mary T. Mcdowell sold 550 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.28, for a total value of $132,154.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 41,816 shares in the company, valued at $10,047,548.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Stephen W. Hope sold 1,757 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.47, for a total value of $457,645.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $898,621.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 46,770 shares of company stock worth $12,065,385. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Autodesk

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Autodesk by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,038,677 shares of the software company's stock valued at $4,635,537,000 after acquiring an additional 310,081 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Autodesk by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,623,556 shares of the software company's stock worth $1,795,073,000 after purchasing an additional 235,484 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Autodesk by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,993,264 shares of the software company's stock worth $829,485,000 after purchasing an additional 66,959 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in Autodesk by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,018,078 shares of the software company's stock worth $624,471,000 after purchasing an additional 35,105 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd increased its position in Autodesk by 19.6% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,921,044 shares of the software company's stock worth $711,216,000 after purchasing an additional 479,559 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.24% of the company's stock.

Autodesk Stock Performance

Shares of ADSK traded down $4.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $236.98. 1,617,057 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,183,725. The business's 50-day moving average price is $255.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $234.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Autodesk has a twelve month low of $188.38 and a twelve month high of $279.53. The company has a market capitalization of $50.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.29, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.43.

Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The software company reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.95 by $0.14. Autodesk had a return on equity of 75.01% and a net margin of 16.48%. The business had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.26 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Autodesk will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ADSK shares. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Autodesk from $234.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Piper Sandler Companies raised their target price on Autodesk from $234.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Autodesk from $232.00 to $293.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Mizuho raised their target price on Autodesk from $220.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $316.00 price objective on shares of Autodesk in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $272.44.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc provides 3D design, engineering, and entertainment technology solutions worldwide. The company offers AutoCAD Civil 3D, a surveying, design, analysis, and documentation solution for civil engineering, including land development, transportation, and environmental projects; BuildingConnected, a SaaS preconstruction solution; AutoCAD, a software for professional design, drafting, detailing, and visualization; AutoCAD LT, a drafting and detailing software; computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software for computer numeric control machining, inspection, and modelling for manufacturing; Fusion 360, a 3D CAD, CAM, and computer-aided engineering tool; and Industry Collections tools for professionals in architecture, engineering and construction, product design and manufacturing, and media and entertainment collection industries.