Alpine Associates Management Inc. Raises Stock Position in ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS)

Alpine Associates Management Inc. grew its holdings in ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) by 8.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 443,583 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,600 shares during the quarter. ANSYS makes up 9.1% of Alpine Associates Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Alpine Associates Management Inc.’s holdings in ANSYS were worth $149,634,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of ANSYS by 3.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,703,249 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,179,966,000 after purchasing an additional 106,187 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in ANSYS by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,305,554 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $732,672,000 after purchasing an additional 37,577 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its holdings in ANSYS by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 603,394 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $192,259,000 after buying an additional 44,605 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in ANSYS by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 570,525 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $192,456,000 after buying an additional 7,098 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ANSYS by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 553,193 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $186,609,000 after buying an additional 21,051 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on ANSS shares. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of ANSYS from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of ANSYS from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

ANSYS Price Performance

NASDAQ:ANSS opened at $325.61 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $28.54 billion, a PE ratio of 49.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.11. ANSYS, Inc. has a 12 month low of $289.82 and a 12 month high of $363.03. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $340.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $333.74. The company has a quick ratio of 3.01, a current ratio of 3.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The software maker reported $3.65 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $882.17 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $864.46 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that ANSYS, Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.