Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) Short Interest Update

Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) was the target of a large growth in short interest in 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. Currently, 5.4% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 206,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.0 days.

Institutional Trading of Aspen Technology

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Aspen Technology by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,336,062 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,047,795,000 after acquiring an additional 51,393 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Aspen Technology by 26.6% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,820,843 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,103,346,000 after purchasing an additional 1,013,697 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Aspen Technology by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 3,721,956 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $760,247,000 after purchasing an additional 124,934 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Aspen Technology by 2.1% during 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, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Aspen Technology by 103,662.9% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,567,858 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $322,038,000 after purchasing an additional 1,566,347 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.66% of the company’s stock.

Aspen Technology Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of AZPN stock opened at $197.48 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $198.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $196.53. The stock has a market cap of $12.55 billion, a PE ratio of -146.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.77. Aspen Technology has a 12 month low of $161.32 and a 12 month high of $236.78.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The technology company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $257.16 million for 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Aspen Technology will post 5.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AZPN shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Aspen Technology from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $196.00 price objective on shares of Aspen Technology in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aspen Technology has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $210.25.

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.