Groupe la Francaise Buys 47,273 Shares of Bentley Systems, Incorporated $BSY

Groupe la Francaise grew its stake in shares of Bentley Systems, Incorporated (NASDAQ:BSY) by 76.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 109,266 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 47,273 shares during the quarter. Groupe la Francaise’s holdings in Bentley Systems were worth $3,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Bentley Systems by 4.8% in the first quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,000,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $316,080,000 after buying an additional 410,799 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in Bentley Systems by 253.6% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,781,449 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,924,000 after buying an additional 3,429,087 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its position in Bentley Systems by 150.9% during the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,661,346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,703,000 after buying an additional 2,803,241 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Bentley Systems by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,468,512 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,060,000 after buying an additional 216,257 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Bentley Systems by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,185,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,584,000 after acquiring an additional 259,780 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 44.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BSY shares. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Bentley Systems in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Bentley Systems from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. UBS Group cut their target price on Bentley Systems from $43.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Barclays reduced their price target on Bentley Systems from $49.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on Bentley Systems from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.00.

Bentley Systems Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:BSY opened at $35.44 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $10.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.27, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $31.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.08. Bentley Systems, Incorporated has a 52 week low of $28.08 and a 52 week high of $58.64.

Bentley Systems (NASDAQ:BSY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $424.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $419.80 million. Bentley Systems had a net margin of 18.12% and a return on equity of 28.65%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Bentley Systems, Incorporated will post 1.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bentley Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 2nd were issued a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Bentley Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.82%.

Bentley Systems Company Profile

Bentley Systems, Inc is a global software provider specializing in infrastructure engineering applications for the design, construction, and operations of roads, bridges, rail and transit systems, water and wastewater networks, power plants and grids, industrial facilities, and communications infrastructure. Founded in 1984 by brothers Keith and Barry Bentley, the company is headquartered in Exton, Pennsylvania, and maintains offices and development centers across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.