American Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMSWA) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 242,800 shares, a decline of 21.2% from the November 15th total of 308,200 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 115,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.
In other American Software news, CFO Vincent C. Klinges sold 6,527 shares of American Software stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.50, for a total transaction of $159,911.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman James C. Edenfield sold 15,600 shares of American Software stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.03, for a total transaction of $374,868.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 9.70% of the company’s stock.
Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of American Software by 11.8% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 3,354,947 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $73,674,000 after buying an additional 352,845 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its position in shares of American Software by 8.9% during the third quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 2,883,562 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $68,485,000 after buying an additional 234,664 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its stake in American Software by 35.5% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,829,143 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $43,442,000 after purchasing an additional 478,947 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in American Software by 2.4% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,743,368 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $38,284,000 after purchasing an additional 41,272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in American Software by 1.1% during the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 925,126 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $21,972,000 after purchasing an additional 10,063 shares during the last quarter. 80.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Knightscope, Inc., a developer of advanced physical security technologies focused on enhancing U.S. security operations, has commenced its offering of up to $40 million of Class A common stock, with shares to be listed immediately following closing on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “KSCP.”
A number of research firms recently issued reports on AMSWA. B. Riley cut shares of American Software from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $31.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, November 19th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. William Blair reissued a “buy” rating on shares of American Software in a research note on Thursday, August 26th. Finally, Maxim Group lifted their price target on shares of American Software from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, American Software presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $31.67.
Shares of AMSWA opened at $24.76 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $824.21 million, a P/E ratio of 70.74 and a beta of 0.65. American Software has a 12-month low of $16.03 and a 12-month high of $33.26. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $26.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.45.
American Software (NASDAQ:AMSWA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 18th. The software maker reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.05. American Software had a return on equity of 9.50% and a net margin of 9.96%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.03 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that American Software will post 0.27 earnings per share for the current year.
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 4th will be given a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 3rd. American Software’s dividend payout ratio is currently 125.72%.
About American Software
American Software, Inc engages in the development and marketing of supply chain management and enterprise software solutions. It operates through the following segments: Supply Chain Management (SCM), Information Technology (IT) Consulting, and Other. The SCM segment offers supply chain optimization and retail planning solutions.
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