Short Interest in Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) Drops By 9.0%

Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,320,000 shares, a decline of 9.0% from the September 30th total of 1,450,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 201,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.6 days. Approximately 5.0% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jr. Robert M. Whelan sold 1,000 shares of Aspen Technology stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.10, for a total transaction of $219,100.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 8,540 shares in the company, valued at $1,871,114. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aspen Technology

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tortoise Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Aspen Technology by 77.8% in the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 128 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in Aspen Technology by 2,600.0% in the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 135 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aspen Technology by 313.2% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 157 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Aspen Technology by 65.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 174 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new position in Aspen Technology in the second quarter worth $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.66% of the company’s stock.

Aspen Technology Stock Down 1.6 %

AZPN traded down $3.84 during trading on Thursday, reaching $236.99. 15,032 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 201,453. Aspen Technology has a 12-month low of $162.26 and a 12-month high of $244.85. The company’s 50-day moving average is $232.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $212.07. The company has a market cap of $14.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1,505.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.76.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The technology company reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.49. The company had revenue of $342.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $319.10 million. Aspen Technology had a negative net margin of 0.87% and a positive return on equity of 2.96%. Aspen Technology’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.87 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Aspen Technology will post 6.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AZPN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. 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. Bank of America increased their price target on Aspen Technology from $225.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Aspen Technology from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Aspen Technology from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $248.40.

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.