APG Asset Management N.V. Buys New Position in Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN)

APG Asset Management N.V. acquired a new stake in Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,298 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $313,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Aspen Technology by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,831,209 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $706,755,000 after purchasing an additional 36,497 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 2,272.7% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 690,940 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $172,479,000 after buying an additional 661,820 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 37,990.7% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 634,210 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $158,318,000 after buying an additional 632,545 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 171,351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Aspen Technology during the 4th quarter valued at $70,813,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AZPN. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Aspen Technology from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Baird R W lowered Aspen Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Loop Capital raised Aspen Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $265.00 to $315.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com started coverage on Aspen Technology in a report on Monday, April 7th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price objective (down from $275.00) on shares of Aspen Technology in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $272.00.

Aspen Technology Price Performance

Shares of AZPN opened at $264.33 on Friday. Aspen Technology, Inc. has a 12 month low of $171.25 and a 12 month high of $277.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $264.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $253.11. The company has a market cap of $16.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 3,304.54, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.73.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.03. Aspen Technology had a net margin of 0.54% and a return on equity of 3.17%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Aspen Technology, Inc. will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Aspen Technology Company Profile

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.