Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Stake in Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 122,741 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 17,776 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Aspen Technology were worth $29,313,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 266,838 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $53,002,000 after purchasing an additional 20,840 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new position in Aspen Technology in the second quarter worth $37,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Aspen Technology by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 5,496 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,092,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aspen Technology by 313.2% during the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 157 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Aspen Technology by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,197 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $635,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. 45.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Aspen Technology Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ AZPN opened at $250.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $15.86 billion, a P/E ratio of -432.41, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.76. Aspen Technology, Inc. has a twelve month low of $171.25 and a twelve month high of $254.44. The company has a 50 day moving average of $245.16 and a 200 day moving average of $223.08.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on AZPN. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Aspen Technology from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Loop Capital boosted their price target on Aspen Technology from $204.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com started coverage on Aspen Technology in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Bank of America lifted 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. Finally, Berenberg Bank cut Aspen Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Aspen Technology currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $258.00.

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.