Robert W. Baird Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Bentley Systems (NASDAQ:BSY) Stock

Bentley Systems (NASDAQ:BSY) had its price target boosted by equities researchers at Robert W. Baird from $54.00 to $64.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 12.04% from the company’s previous close.

BSY has been the subject of a number of other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Bentley Systems from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen cut Bentley Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Bentley Systems from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Bentley Systems from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Bentley Systems from $48.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.70.

Bentley Systems Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of BSY stock traded down $0.86 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $57.12. 1,519,801 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,350,574. Bentley Systems has a 1 year low of $36.51 and a 1 year high of $59.25. The company’s 50 day moving average is $53.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market cap of $16.67 billion, a PE ratio of 72.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 1.10.

Bentley Systems (NASDAQ:BSY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.05. Bentley Systems had a return on equity of 29.18% and a net margin of 18.46%. The firm had revenue of $370.54 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $366.76 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.31 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Bentley Systems will post 0.88 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Raymond B. Bentley sold 122,114 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.70, for a total value of $6,191,179.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 15,347,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $778,114,396.80. The trade was a 0.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider David R. Shaman sold 19,348 shares of Bentley Systems stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.96, for a total transaction of $1,102,062.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 647,609 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,887,808.64. This represents a 2.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,202,232 shares of company stock valued at $61,437,713 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 20.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. City Holding Co. acquired a new position in shares of Bentley Systems during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Bentley Systems by 1,529.3% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 668 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 627 shares during the period. Twin Tree Management LP grew its position in Bentley Systems by 361.9% during the first quarter. Twin Tree Management LP now owns 739 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 579 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in Bentley Systems by 1,707.1% during the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 759 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 717 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in Bentley Systems by 106.6% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 843 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 435 shares during the period. 44.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bentley Systems Company Profile

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.