Short Interest in ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) Increases By 19.2%

ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,490,000 shares, a growth of 19.2% from the March 15th total of 1,250,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 738,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days. Approximately 1.7% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ANSS shares. Barclays raised their price target 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. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of ANSYS in a research report on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $345.00 price target on shares of ANSYS in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed a “peer perform” rating on shares of ANSYS in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ANSYS currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $322.75.

ANSYS Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ANSS opened at $328.16 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $338.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $319.73. 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 one year low of $258.01 and a one year high of $364.31. The company has a market cap of $28.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.27, a PEG ratio of 5.28 and a beta of 1.16.

ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The software maker reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.71 by $0.23. ANSYS had a net margin of 22.05% and a return on equity of 11.83%. The company had revenue of $805.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $797.49 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.61 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that ANSYS will post 7.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at ANSYS

In related news, Director Glenda Dorchak sold 150 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.08, for a total value of $51,312.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,049 shares in the company, valued at $1,043,001.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of ANSYS

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of ANSYS by 12.4% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,254 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $716,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of ANSYS by 59.0% in the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,430 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,407,000 after acquiring an additional 1,643 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its position in shares of ANSYS by 7.3% in the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 2,323 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $738,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of ANSYS by 3.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 301,397 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $95,742,000 after acquiring an additional 10,284 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in shares of ANSYS by 4.5% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 71,045 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $22,567,000 after acquiring an additional 3,063 shares during the period. 92.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.