Bentley Systems, Incorporated (NASDAQ:BSY) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.07

Bentley Systems, Incorporated (NASDAQ:BSY) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 19th will be paid a dividend of 0.07 per share on Thursday, March 27th. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 19th. This is a 16.7% increase from Bentley Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06.

Bentley Systems has increased its dividend payment by an average of 26.0% per year over the last three years. Bentley Systems has a payout ratio of 21.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Bentley Systems to earn $1.01 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.7%.

Bentley Systems Stock Up 3.3 %

NASDAQ BSY opened at $41.44 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $12.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.33, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.04. Bentley Systems has a 1-year low of $39.98 and a 1-year high of $57.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The company has a 50 day moving average of $45.37 and a 200-day moving average of $47.69.

Insider Transactions at Bentley Systems

In other news, Director Keith A. Bentley sold 1,152 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.33, for a total transaction of $53,372.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,703,876 shares in the company, valued at $773,890,575.08. This represents a 0.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 21.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on BSY. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Bentley Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Oppenheimer cut Bentley Systems from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Bentley Systems from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Bentley Systems in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 target price for the company. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $62.00 price target on shares of Bentley Systems in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.14.

About Bentley Systems

Bentley Systems, Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, provides infrastructure engineering software solutions in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. The company offers open modeling engineering applications, such as MicroStation, OpenBridge, OpenBuildings, OpenCities, OpenComms, OpenFlows, OpenPlant, OpenRail, OpenRoads, OpenSite, OpenTower, OpenTunnel, OpenUtilities, and OpenWindowPower; and open simulation engineering applications, including ADINA, AutoPIPE, CUBE, DYNAMEQ, EMME, LEGION, Power Line Systems, RAM, SACS, SPIDA, and STAAD; and geoprofessional applications for modeling and simulation of near and deep subsurface conditions, including AGS, Central, GeoStudio, Imago, Leapfrog, MX Deposit, Oasis montaj, OpenGround, and PLAXIS.