StockNews.com Begins Coverage on Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN)

Analysts at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) in a report released on Saturday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on AZPN. Berenberg Bank cut shares of 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 shares of Aspen Technology from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $258.00.

Aspen Technology Stock Down 0.2 %

AZPN opened at $255.16 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $16.14 billion, a PE ratio of -439.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.76. Aspen Technology has a twelve month low of $171.25 and a twelve month high of $259.85. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $250.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $232.27.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $215.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $265.04 million. Aspen Technology had a negative net margin of 3.26% and a positive return on equity of 2.81%. Aspen Technology’s revenue was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.96 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aspen Technology will post 6.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aspen Technology

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in 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 valued at $158,318,000 after purchasing an additional 632,545 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Aspen Technology by 89.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 363,449 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $86,799,000 after purchasing an additional 171,351 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Aspen Technology in the 3rd quarter valued at about $290,880,000. American Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Aspen Technology by 116.9% in the third quarter. American Capital Management Inc. now owns 195,271 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,635,000 after buying an additional 105,254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Aspen Technology during the third quarter worth about $19,928,000. 45.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.