Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,450,000 shares, a growth of 5.8% from the March 15th total of 1,370,000 shares. Approximately 5.4% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 206,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.0 days.

Institutional Trading of Aspen Technology

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AZPN. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Aspen Technology in the third quarter worth $662,551,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 103,662.9% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,567,858 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $322,038,000 after buying an additional 1,566,347 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 26.6% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,820,843 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,103,346,000 after buying an additional 1,013,697 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 19.5% in the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 3,597,094 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $823,267,000 after buying an additional 585,945 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Aspen Technology in the fourth quarter worth $77,022,000. Institutional investors own 45.66% of the company’s stock.

Aspen Technology Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of AZPN traded up $0.74 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $201.59. 52,453 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 199,652. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $198.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $196.55. The firm has a market cap of $12.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -149.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.77. Aspen Technology has a 12-month low of $161.32 and a 12-month high of $242.10.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The technology company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $257.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $259.70 million. Aspen Technology had a positive return on equity of 2.38% and a negative net margin of 8.17%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Aspen Technology will post 5.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AZPN. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $196.00 price objective on shares of Aspen Technology in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aspen Technology from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.25.

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.