Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Acquires 434 Shares of Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) by 4.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,768 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 434 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Aspen Technology were worth $2,332,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Aspen Technology by 1.6% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,090,314 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $812,459,000 after acquiring an additional 65,143 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in Aspen Technology by 5.2% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 582,682 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $139,156,000 after acquiring an additional 28,820 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 38.5% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 553,862 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $110,014,000 after buying an additional 153,897 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 26.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 524,604 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $104,199,000 after buying an additional 109,783 shares during the period. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp increased its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 3.8% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 340,166 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $67,567,000 after buying an additional 12,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AZPN shares. Berenberg Bank downgraded Aspen Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Aspen Technology from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Aspen Technology from $225.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Loop Capital upped their price objective on Aspen Technology from $204.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Aspen Technology from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $253.00.

Aspen Technology Price Performance

Shares of Aspen Technology stock opened at $250.00 on Friday. Aspen Technology, Inc. has a 1 year low of $171.25 and a 1 year high of $254.04. The firm has a market cap of $15.81 billion, a PE ratio of -431.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $240.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $218.78.

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

Aspen Technology 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.