Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) Now Covered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) in a report released on Saturday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the technology company’s stock.

AZPN has been the subject of several other reports. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Aspen Technology from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Aspen Technology from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Berenberg Bank downgraded Aspen Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Aspen Technology has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $258.00.

Aspen Technology Stock Performance

AZPN opened at $255.16 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $250.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $231.95. Aspen Technology has a one year low of $171.25 and a one year high of $259.85. The stock has a market cap of $16.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -439.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.76.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.54). The business had revenue of $215.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $265.04 million. Aspen Technology had a positive return on equity of 2.81% and a negative net margin of 3.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.96 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Aspen Technology will post 6.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aspen Technology

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AZPN. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Aspen Technology by 37,990.7% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 634,210 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $158,318,000 after acquiring an additional 632,545 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in Aspen Technology by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 582,682 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $139,156,000 after buying an additional 28,820 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Aspen Technology by 89.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 363,449 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $86,799,000 after buying an additional 171,351 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 5.9% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 281,961 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $67,338,000 after acquiring an additional 15,744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Aspen Technology by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 251,257 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $60,005,000 after purchasing an additional 677 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.66% of the company’s stock.

About Aspen Technology

Aspen Technology, Inc provides industrial software that focuses on helping customers in asset-intensive industries worldwide. The company’s solutions address complex environments where it is critical to optimize the asset design, operation, and maintenance lifecycle. Its software is used in performance engineering, modeling and design, supply chain management, predictive and prescriptive maintenance, digital grid management, and industrial data management.