Short Interest in Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) Declines By 14.8%

Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) was the target of a large drop in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,210,000 shares, a drop of 14.8% from the January 15th total of 1,420,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 577,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days. Approximately 4.6% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aspen Technology

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Aspen Technology by 1.3% during the fourth 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 period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 2,272.7% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 37,990.7% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 623,820 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $155,721,000 after buying an additional 12,456 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $139,156,000 after buying an additional 28,820 shares in the last quarter. 45.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AZPN. Loop Capital raised Aspen Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $265.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 target price (down previously from $275.00) on shares of Aspen Technology in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Berenberg Bank cut Aspen Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Aspen Technology in a research report on Monday, February 10th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Aspen Technology from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Aspen Technology has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $272.00.

Aspen Technology Stock Performance

Aspen Technology stock traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $264.78. 204,378 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 662,755. Aspen Technology has a 12-month low of $171.25 and a 12-month high of $277.37. The stock has a market cap of $16.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3,310.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.76. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $255.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $239.60.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.03. Aspen Technology had a return on equity of 3.17% and a net margin of 0.54%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Aspen Technology will post 6.68 EPS for the current fiscal 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.