Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) Cut to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Thursday.

Several other research firms also recently commented on ADSK. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Autodesk from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, August 24th. TheStreet cut Autodesk from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 15th. HSBC started coverage on Autodesk in a research note on Friday, September 29th. They set a hold rating and a $214.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Autodesk in a research note on Friday, September 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Autodesk from $224.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday, August 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $235.11.

Autodesk Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ADSK opened at $215.02 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $45.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.46. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $207.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $206.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89. Autodesk has a 1-year low of $179.61 and a 1-year high of $232.15.

Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 23rd. The software company reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. Autodesk had a return on equity of 90.61% and a net margin of 16.77%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.04 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Autodesk will post 4.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Autodesk

In other news, EVP Rebecca Pearce sold 115 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total transaction of $25,300.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,857 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,028,540. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Autodesk news, EVP Rebecca Pearce sold 115 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total value of $25,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,028,540. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mary T. Mcdowell sold 4,656 shares of Autodesk stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.04, for a total transaction of $1,033,818.24. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,916 shares in the company, valued at $9,529,068.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,917 shares of company stock worth $6,599,720 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Autodesk

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Autodesk by 5.8% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 18,086,689 shares of the software company’s stock worth $3,700,717,000 after buying an additional 989,144 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Autodesk by 1.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,753,933 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $1,791,142,000 after acquiring an additional 130,377 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Autodesk by 13.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,513,919 shares of the software company’s stock worth $921,499,000 after purchasing an additional 520,655 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Autodesk by 18.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,967,076 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $825,786,000 after purchasing an additional 610,230 shares during the period. Finally, Sustainable Growth Advisers LP lifted its holdings in Autodesk by 9.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 3,139,867 shares of the software company’s stock worth $642,448,000 after buying an additional 275,675 shares during the period. 87.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.