Bentley Systems, Incorporated (NASDAQ:BSY) Short Interest Update

Bentley Systems, Incorporated (NASDAQ:BSY) was the target of a large growth in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,430,000 shares, a growth of 6.1% from the May 15th total of 8,890,000 shares. Currently, 7.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,580,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.0 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Keith A. Bentley sold 59,420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.01, for a total value of $3,268,694.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,972,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $933,650,788.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Keith A. Bentley sold 59,420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.01, for a total value of $3,268,694.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,972,383 shares in the company, valued at approximately $933,650,788.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Keith A. Bentley sold 118,949 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.01, for a total transaction of $6,543,384.49. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,031,803 shares in the company, valued at $936,919,483.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,390 shares of company stock worth $10,748,234 in the last ninety days. 21.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Bentley Systems

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pathstone Family Office LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bentley Systems by 57.8% in the third quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC now owns 8,008 shares of the company’s stock worth $402,000 after buying an additional 2,934 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in shares of Bentley Systems by 258.2% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 157,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,898,000 after buying an additional 113,491 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Bentley Systems by 46.9% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 721 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Bentley Systems by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 24,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,228,000 after purchasing an additional 965 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in Bentley Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,726,000. 44.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $63.00 target price (up from $60.00) on shares of Bentley Systems in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Bentley Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $61.00 target price on shares of Bentley Systems in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Bentley Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Bentley Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bentley Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.29.

Bentley Systems Stock Performance

Shares of BSY opened at $51.27 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $52.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.26. Bentley Systems has a 52 week low of $44.76 and a 52 week high of $57.19. The company has a market capitalization of $14.79 billion, a PE ratio of 47.92, a PEG ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.57.

Bentley Systems (NASDAQ:BSY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $337.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $335.00 million. Bentley Systems had a net margin of 28.09% and a return on equity of 32.62%. Research analysts expect that Bentley Systems will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bentley Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th were paid a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 4th. Bentley Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.43%.

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 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.