Morgan Stanley Reiterates Overweight Rating for Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK)

Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating restated by Morgan Stanley in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $320.00 target price on the software company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price suggests a potential upside of 19.64% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Autodesk from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Autodesk to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Autodesk from $239.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Autodesk from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $225.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price 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 assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $290.47.

Autodesk Price Performance

ADSK stock opened at $267.47 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $57.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.89, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Autodesk has a 12-month low of $192.01 and a 12-month high of $279.53. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $253.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $240.15.

Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 29th. The software company reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.12 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Autodesk will post 5.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Autodesk

In related news, COO Steven M. Blum sold 19,693 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 34,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,610,750. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Autodesk news, CAO Stephen W. Hope sold 286 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.84, for a total value of $78,604.24. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,340,944.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Steven M. Blum sold 19,693 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,973 shares of company stock valued at $10,106,590 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Autodesk

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ADSK. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Autodesk by 263.6% in the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 4,563,668 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its position in shares of Autodesk by 28.0% in the 2nd 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 during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Autodesk by 100.9% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,642,973 shares of the software company’s stock worth $406,554,000 after purchasing an additional 825,165 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Autodesk by 366.5% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 843,040 shares of the software company’s stock worth $208,610,000 after purchasing an additional 662,339 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted its position in shares of Autodesk by 19.6% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,921,044 shares of the software company’s stock worth $711,216,000 after purchasing an additional 479,559 shares during the period. 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.