Legal & General Group Plc Sells 167,963 Shares of ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS)

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its position in ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) by 22.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 565,682 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 167,963 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.65% of ANSYS worth $190,822,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in ANSYS by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,643,766 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,590,462,000 after purchasing an additional 78,730 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of ANSYS by 2.5% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of ANSYS in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $615,566,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of ANSYS by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,097,915 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $370,360,000 after buying an additional 75,752 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of ANSYS by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 570,525 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $192,456,000 after buying an additional 7,098 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.39% of the company’s stock.

ANSYS Stock Performance

NASDAQ ANSS opened at $309.72 on Thursday. ANSYS, Inc. has a 1 year low of $275.06 and a 1 year high of $363.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 3.01 and a quick ratio of 3.01. The firm has a market cap of $27.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.29, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $325.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $333.14.

ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The software maker reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.97 by ($0.32). ANSYS had a return on equity of 12.69% and a net margin of 22.62%. The company had revenue of $882.17 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $864.46 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that ANSYS, Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of ANSYS from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of ANSYS from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Glenda Dorchak sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.62, for a total value of $67,324.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,430 shares in the company, valued at $1,154,606.60. The trade was a 5.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.