ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $374.52, but opened at $394.05. ANSYS shares last traded at $389.28, with a volume of 953,420 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of ANSYS from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Robert W. Baird set a $396.00 target price on shares of ANSYS in a research report on Monday. Finally, Baird R W cut shares of ANSYS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday.

ANSYS Trading Up 1.8%

The company has a market cap of $34.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.27, a PEG ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $346.43 and its 200-day moving average is $334.13. The company has a current ratio of 3.66, a quick ratio of 3.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The software maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.75 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $504.89 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $516.81 million. ANSYS had a net margin of 22.95% and a return on equity of 12.38%. ANSYS’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.39 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that ANSYS, Inc. will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ANSYS

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in ANSYS by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,903,178 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,451,510,000 after acquiring an additional 259,412 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of ANSYS by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,363,744 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $796,033,000 after buying an additional 58,190 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its position in shares of ANSYS by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,086,177 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $703,730,000 after buying an additional 511,557 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new stake in shares of ANSYS during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $695,129,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of ANSYS during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $615,566,000. Institutional investors own 92.39% of the company’s stock.

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.