Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Position in Bentley Systems, Incorporated (NASDAQ:BSY)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bentley Systems, Incorporated (NASDAQ:BSY) by 47.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 228,716 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 73,539 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of Bentley Systems worth $9,833,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in shares of Bentley Systems by 261.5% in the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 658 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 476 shares during the period. Machina Capital S.A.S. acquired a new position in shares of Bentley Systems in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bentley Systems by 78.4% during the 1st quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 776 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the period. State of Wyoming increased its position in Bentley Systems by 6,393.8% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,023 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Bentley Systems by 42.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 44.16% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BSY has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Bentley Systems from $53.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 7th. Griffin Securities upgraded Bentley Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 10th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Bentley Systems from $48.00 to $50.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 10th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $47.00 price target on shares of Bentley Systems in a report on Tuesday, August 8th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Bentley Systems from $51.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, July 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.67.

Bentley Systems Trading Up 2.3 %

Bentley Systems stock opened at $49.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $51.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.47. Bentley Systems, Incorporated has a 52-week low of $30.51 and a 52-week high of $55.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 100.31, a PEG ratio of 8.17 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.53.

Bentley Systems (NASDAQ:BSY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 8th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.05. Bentley Systems had a return on equity of 36.80% and a net margin of 13.45%. The business had revenue of $296.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $295.78 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Bentley Systems, Incorporated will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bentley Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 14th. Bentley Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.82%.

Insider Activity at Bentley Systems

In other Bentley Systems news, insider Michael M. Campbell sold 4,408 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.69, for a total transaction of $236,665.52. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 93,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,044,980.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Michael M. Campbell sold 4,408 shares of Bentley Systems stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.69, for a total transaction of $236,665.52. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 93,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,044,980.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gregory S. Bentley sold 57,696 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total value of $3,062,503.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 8,070,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $428,379,220.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 190,962 shares of company stock worth $10,170,102 over the last ninety days. 22.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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 and open simulation applications for infrastructure design integration, which include MicroStation, OpenRoads, OpenRail, OpenPlant, OpenBuildings, OpenBridge, OpenSite, OpenFlows, STAAD and RAM, SACS, MOSES, AutoPIPE, SITEOPS, CUBE, DYNAMEQ, EMME, and LEGION; and geoprofessional applications for modeling and simulation of near and deep subsurface conditions, including Leapfrog, AGS Workbench, GeoStudio, Imago, MX Deposit, Oasis montaj, PLAXIS, and OpenGround.