First Merchants Corp Increases Position in ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS)

First Merchants Corp increased its stake in shares of ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSS) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,095 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in ANSYS were worth $3,405,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ANSYS during the 4th quarter worth approximately $210,000. Phraction Management LLC purchased a new position in ANSYS in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,716,000. Fiera Capital Corp raised its holdings in ANSYS by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 168,992 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $57,006,000 after purchasing an additional 13,678 shares during the last quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC purchased a new stake in ANSYS during the fourth quarter worth $279,000. Finally, Savant Capital LLC acquired a new stake in ANSYS in the fourth quarter valued at $203,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Glenda Dorchak sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.62, for a total transaction of $67,324.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,154,606.60. This represents a 5.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on ANSYS from $350.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of ANSYS from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $346.67.

ANSYS Stock Performance

NASDAQ ANSS opened at $339.17 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.11, a current ratio of 3.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. ANSYS, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $289.82 and a fifty-two week high of $363.03. The business has a fifty day moving average of $343.30 and a 200-day moving average of $331.35. The stock has a market cap of $29.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.12.

ANSYS Profile

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.