Scotiabank Begins Coverage on Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK)

Equities research analysts at Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) in a research report issued on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set a “sector outperform” rating and a $360.00 price target on the software company’s stock. Scotiabank’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 17.96% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on ADSK. DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of Autodesk in a research note on Friday, September 27th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $260.00 price target for the company. HSBC raised shares of Autodesk from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $242.00 to $299.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Autodesk from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Autodesk from $254.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Autodesk to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $301.19.

Autodesk Trading Up 1.0 %

ADSK opened at $305.20 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $283.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $253.07. Autodesk has a 1-year low of $195.32 and a 1-year high of $315.73. The company has a market cap of $65.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The software company reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. Autodesk had a return on equity of 59.41% and a net margin of 18.21%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.12 EPS. Analysts predict that Autodesk will post 5.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Autodesk news, COO Steven M. Blum sold 17,344 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was 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. This trade represents a 50.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Mary T. Mcdowell sold 550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.06, for a total value of $167,783.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,249 shares in the company, valued at $9,227,759.94. This represents a 1.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,280 shares of company stock valued at $5,232,213. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Autodesk

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ADSK. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in Autodesk by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,417 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $369,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Autodesk by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 5,703 shares of the software company’s stock worth $1,482,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Autodesk by 57.0% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 16,646 shares of the software company’s stock worth $4,335,000 after purchasing an additional 6,044 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in Autodesk by 29.3% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 15,377 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $4,004,000 after buying an additional 3,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its position in shares of Autodesk by 60.3% during the first quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 2,145 shares of the software company’s stock valued at $559,000 after buying an additional 807 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.