Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stake in Bentley Systems, Incorporated (NASDAQ:BSY)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in Bentley Systems, Incorporated (NASDAQ:BSY) by 97.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,242 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,740,758 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Bentley Systems were worth $2,346,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BSY. Private Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in shares of Bentley Systems by 61.1% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 997 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 378 shares in the last quarter. Tobam purchased a new stake in Bentley Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in Bentley Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Bentley Systems by 76.9% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,675 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in Bentley Systems by 42.0% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 495 shares in the last quarter. 44.16% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bentley Systems Stock Up 0.9%

BSY opened at $48.14 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $14.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $42.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. Bentley Systems, Incorporated has a 12 month low of $36.51 and a 12 month high of $57.19.

Bentley Systems (NASDAQ:BSY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $370.54 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $366.76 million. Bentley Systems had a return on equity of 29.50% and a net margin of 27.73%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Bentley Systems, Incorporated will post 0.88 EPS for the current year.

Bentley Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 19th were paid a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. This is an increase from Bentley Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 19th. Bentley Systems’s payout ratio is presently 35.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CRO Brock Ballard sold 12,363 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.08, for a total transaction of $557,324.04. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 68,064 shares in the company, valued at $3,068,325.12. The trade was a 15.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 20.56% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BSY has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Bentley Systems from $48.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Mizuho lowered their price target on Bentley Systems from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Bentley Systems from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Bentley Systems from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut Bentley Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $42.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bentley Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.00.

About Bentley Systems

Bentley Systems, Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, provides infrastructure engineering software solutions in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. The company offers open modeling engineering applications, such as MicroStation, OpenBridge, OpenBuildings, OpenCities, OpenComms, OpenFlows, OpenPlant, OpenRail, OpenRoads, OpenSite, OpenTower, OpenTunnel, OpenUtilities, and OpenWindowPower; and open simulation engineering applications, including ADINA, AutoPIPE, CUBE, DYNAMEQ, EMME, LEGION, Power Line Systems, RAM, SACS, SPIDA, and STAAD; and geoprofessional applications for modeling and simulation of near and deep subsurface conditions, including AGS, Central, GeoStudio, Imago, Leapfrog, MX Deposit, Oasis montaj, OpenGround, and PLAXIS.