Bentley Systems, Incorporated (NASDAQ:BSY) Short Interest Up 5.1% in January

Bentley Systems, Incorporated (NASDAQ:BSY) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,970,000 shares, a growth of 5.1% from the December 31st total of 5,680,000 shares. Approximately 4.4% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 899,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.6 days.

Bentley Systems Trading Down 1.5 %

Bentley Systems stock opened at $45.86 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $47.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $48.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.52. Bentley Systems has a one year low of $43.82 and a one year high of $57.19. The stock has a market cap of $13.33 billion, a PE ratio of 41.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.03.

Bentley Systems (NASDAQ:BSY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24. The business had revenue of $335.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $340.36 million. Bentley Systems had a return on equity of 29.50% and a net margin of 27.73%. The company’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.18 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bentley Systems will post 0.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bentley Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd were issued a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. Bentley Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Bentley Systems from $65.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Bentley Systems in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Bentley Systems in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.29.

Insider Transactions at Bentley Systems

In other news, Director Keith A. Bentley sold 1,152 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.33, for a total transaction of $53,372.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,703,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $773,890,575.08. The trade was a 0.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 21.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Bentley Systems

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Bentley Systems by 36.5% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,007,324 shares of the company’s stock worth $327,242,000 after acquiring an additional 1,873,029 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc acquired a new stake in Bentley Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $88,771,000. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Bentley Systems by 3.5% in the third quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 1,161,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,998,000 after purchasing an additional 39,205 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp grew its holdings in Bentley Systems by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 953,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,517,000 after purchasing an additional 111,433 shares during the period. Finally, Copeland Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Bentley Systems by 60.9% in the third quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 683,962 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,752,000 after purchasing an additional 258,992 shares during the period. 44.16% of the stock is 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.