Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,340,000 shares, a drop of 6.4% from the August 31st total of 3,570,000 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,460,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Steven M. Blum sold 19,693 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $4,923,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 34,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,610,750. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, COO Steven M. Blum sold 19,693 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $4,923,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 34,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,610,750. The sale 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,616,730. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,973 shares of company stock worth $10,106,590 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Autodesk

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Autodesk by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,875 shares of the software company’s stock worth $959,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in Autodesk by 5.1% in the second quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 920 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $228,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Beacon Financial Group boosted its position in Autodesk by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Financial Group now owns 1,248 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $304,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network grew its holdings in Autodesk by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 1,802 shares of the software company’s stock worth $469,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, InTrack Investment Management Inc raised its position in shares of Autodesk by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. InTrack Investment Management Inc now owns 2,189 shares of the software company’s stock worth $542,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.24% of the company’s stock.

Autodesk Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ ADSK opened at $267.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $253.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $240.15. The stock has a market cap of $57.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.48. Autodesk has a 52-week low of $192.01 and a 52-week high of $279.53. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The software company reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.15. Autodesk had a return on equity of 59.41% and a net margin of 18.21%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.12 EPS. Autodesk’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Autodesk will post 5.73 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ADSK. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Autodesk from $239.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Autodesk from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Autodesk from $290.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Autodesk from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, DA Davidson initiated coverage on Autodesk in a report on Friday, September 27th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $260.00 price objective on the stock. Eight investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Autodesk presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $290.47.

About Autodesk

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.