ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) Short Interest Down 16.8% in April

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research reaffirmed a "peer perform" rating on shares of ANSYS in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of ANSYS from $350.00 to $330.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of ANSYS from $314.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and set a $345.00 price objective on shares of ANSYS in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of ANSYS in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $320.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Glenda Dorchak sold 150 shares of ANSYS stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.08, for a total transaction of $51,312.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,049 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,043,001.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.53% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ANSYS

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ANSS. Ninety One North America Inc. increased its holdings in ANSYS by 49.3% in the 4th quarter. Ninety One North America Inc. now owns 29,863 shares of the software maker's stock worth $10,837,000 after acquiring an additional 9,863 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in ANSYS by 7.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,195,065 shares of the software maker's stock worth $355,592,000 after buying an additional 81,457 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in ANSYS by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 415,424 shares of the software maker's stock worth $149,607,000 after buying an additional 31,579 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in ANSYS by 3.7% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 33,520 shares of the software maker's stock worth $9,974,000 after buying an additional 1,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of ANSYS by 4.5% during the third quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 356,768 shares of the software maker's stock worth $106,156,000 after purchasing an additional 15,333 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.39% of the company's stock.

ANSYS Trading Up 2.1 %

ANSYS stock traded up $6.71 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $333.75. 251,788 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 322,008. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $336.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $321.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.25, a P/E/G ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 2.30 and a quick ratio of 2.30. ANSYS has a 52-week low of $258.01 and a 52-week high of $364.31.

ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The software maker reported $3.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.71 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $805.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $797.49 million. ANSYS had a net margin of 22.05% and a return on equity of 11.83%. The company's revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.61 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that ANSYS will post 7.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.