Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) in a report issued on Wednesday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the technology company’s stock.

AZPN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. 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. Berenberg Bank downgraded Aspen Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler boosted 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. Loop Capital increased their target price on shares of Aspen Technology from $204.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Aspen Technology from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aspen Technology has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $258.00.

Aspen Technology Price Performance

Shares of AZPN opened at $249.63 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $15.79 billion, a P/E ratio of -430.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $247.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $225.33. Aspen Technology has a one year low of $171.25 and a one year high of $254.44.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Aspen Technology will post 6.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aspen Technology

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 171,351 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Aspen Technology by 2.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 29,120 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,912,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its stake in Aspen Technology by 12.6% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 12,487 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,982,000 after buying an additional 1,396 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 12,606 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,162,000 after buying an additional 1,065 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Aspen Technology in the third quarter worth about $77,000. 45.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.