Autodesk’s (ADSK) “Overweight” Rating Reaffirmed at Morgan Stanley

Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating restated by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley in a research note issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $320.00 target price on the software company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price indicates a potential upside of 17.69% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Autodesk from $290.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. HSBC upgraded Autodesk from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $242.00 to $299.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Autodesk from $290.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Autodesk from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Autodesk from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Autodesk has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $290.47.

Autodesk Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ ADSK opened at $271.90 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $58.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.48. Autodesk has a fifty-two week low of $192.01 and a fifty-two week high of $279.53. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $252.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $239.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.64.

Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The software company reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.15. Autodesk had a net margin of 18.21% and a return on equity of 59.41%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.12 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Autodesk will post 5.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Autodesk news, Director Mary T. Mcdowell sold 550 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.50, for a total value of $146,025.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 31,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,323,159.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Mary T. Mcdowell sold 550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.50, for a total value of $146,025.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 31,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,323,159.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Steven M. Blum sold 17,344 shares of Autodesk stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.00, for a total value of $4,682,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,099 shares in the company, valued at $4,616,730. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,687 shares of company stock valued at $10,027,986 in the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Autodesk

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ADSK. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Autodesk by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,402,242 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $5,052,732,000 after buying an additional 363,565 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Autodesk by 263.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,294,746 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,639,279,000 after acquiring an additional 4,563,668 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd grew its position in shares of Autodesk by 28.0% during the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 5,071,950 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,255,054,000 after purchasing an additional 1,108,973 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its stake in Autodesk by 19.6% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,921,044 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $711,216,000 after purchasing an additional 479,559 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Autodesk by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,117,357 shares of the software company’s stock worth $523,940,000 after purchasing an additional 81,314 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.24% of the company’s stock.

Autodesk Company Profile

Autodesk, Inc provides 3D design, engineering, and entertainment technology solutions worldwide. The company offers AutoCAD Civil 3D, a surveying, design, analysis, and documentation solution for civil engineering, including land development, transportation, and environmental projects; BuildingConnected, a SaaS preconstruction solution; AutoCAD, a software for professional design, drafting, detailing, and visualization; AutoCAD LT, a drafting and detailing software; computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software for computer numeric control machining, inspection, and modelling for manufacturing; Fusion 360, a 3D CAD, CAM, and computer-aided engineering tool; and Industry Collections tools for professionals in architecture, engineering and construction, product design and manufacturing, and media and entertainment collection industries.