Morgan Stanley Increases Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) Price Target to $375.00

Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) had its price target raised by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $320.00 to $375.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the software company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 18.96% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Autodesk from $254.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Autodesk from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Autodesk in a research report on Monday. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $360.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Autodesk in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $340.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Citigroup set a $325.00 price target on shares of Autodesk and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Autodesk has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $305.00.

Autodesk Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ ADSK opened at $315.22 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $67.77 billion, a PE ratio of 64.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 1.47. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $285.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $253.88. Autodesk has a 12-month low of $195.32 and a 12-month high of $317.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.64.

Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The software company reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.12 EPS. Autodesk’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Autodesk will post 5.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Autodesk

In other news, Director Mary T. Mcdowell sold 550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $8,323,159.50. This trade represents a 1.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Steven M. Blum sold 17,344 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.00, for a total transaction of $4,682,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,616,730. This represents a 50.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,280 shares of company stock valued at $5,232,213. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Autodesk

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ADSK. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Autodesk by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,808,476 shares of the software company’s stock worth $2,702,028,000 after purchasing an additional 288,931 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Autodesk by 0.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,653,602 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,557,454,000 after buying an additional 46,069 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd increased its stake in Autodesk by 28.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,108,973 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Autodesk by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,385,987 shares of the software company’s stock worth $657,292,000 after acquiring an additional 61,785 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Autodesk by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,192,345 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $603,947,000 after acquiring an additional 245,816 shares in the last quarter. 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.