Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) Short Interest Update
Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN - Get Rating) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 908,600 shares, a decrease of 11.8% from the October 31st total of 1,030,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 221,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.1 days. Approximately 3.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Aspen Technology news, VP F G. Hammond sold 2,495 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.75, for a total value of $558,256.25. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 20,152 shares in the company, valued at $4,509,010. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Aspen Technology news, VP F G. Hammond sold 2,495 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.75, for a total value of $558,256.25. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 20,152 shares in the company, valued at $4,509,010. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP F G. Hammond sold 4,262 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.57, for a total value of $901,711.34. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 20,606 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,359,611.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aspen Technology
Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,645,133 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,098,905,000 after purchasing an additional 407,220 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,336,062 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,047,795,000 after purchasing an additional 51,393 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,126,791 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $390,648,000 after purchasing an additional 20,536 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,812,165 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $299,678,000 after purchasing an additional 36,999 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 950,946 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $224,128,000 after purchasing an additional 47,961 shares during the last quarter. 93.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several analysts recently issued reports on AZPN shares. KeyCorp increased their target price on Aspen Technology from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 27th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Aspen Technology to $242.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 27th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Aspen Technology in a research report on Tuesday, August 16th. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. StockNews.com started coverage on Aspen Technology in a research report on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Aspen Technology from $189.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, September 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $243.40.
Aspen Technology Price Performance
Aspen Technology stock traded up $0.50 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $239.99. 186,492 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 335,474. The stock's fifty day moving average is $240.93 and its 200-day moving average is $215.29. Aspen Technology has a 12 month low of $135.48 and a 12 month high of $263.59. The stock has a market cap of $15.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.00, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 4.07, a current ratio of 3.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.
Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN - Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 26th. The technology company reported $2.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.95. The company had revenue of $250.82 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $236.76 million. Aspen Technology had a return on equity of 5.75% and a net margin of 21.55%. The firm's revenue was up 84.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Aspen Technology will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.
About Aspen Technology
Aspen Technology together with its subsidiaries develops and supplies integrated software and services that enable the process industries to design, operate, manage, and optimize their business processes. Its software applications utilize proprietary empirical models of chemical manufacturing processes to enhance plant and process design, economic evaluation, production, production planning and scheduling, supply chain optimization, and operational performance.
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