Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) Short Interest Down 8.2% in July

Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,340,000 shares, a drop of 8.2% from the June 30th total of 1,460,000 shares. Currently, 5.0% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 211,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.3 days.

Aspen Technology Stock Down 1.0 %

Aspen Technology stock traded down $1.96 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $187.95. 171,534 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 202,200. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $199.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $199.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.90 billion, a PE ratio of -427.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.73. Aspen Technology has a one year low of $162.26 and a one year high of $224.77.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The technology company reported $1.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $278.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $251.65 million. Aspen Technology had a positive return on equity of 2.76% and a negative net margin of 2.46%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Aspen Technology will post 5.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AZPN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Aspen Technology from $196.00 to $180.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. William Blair upgraded Aspen Technology to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Berenberg Bank upgraded Aspen Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $185.00 to $255.00 in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Aspen Technology in a report on Friday, June 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $219.50.

Institutional Trading of Aspen Technology

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Aspen Technology by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 313,105 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $68,931,000 after buying an additional 16,649 shares during the last quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp purchased a new stake in Aspen Technology in the fourth quarter worth $2,957,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund purchased a new stake in Aspen Technology in the first quarter worth $1,487,000. IFM Investors Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in Aspen Technology in the first quarter worth $1,166,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its position in Aspen Technology by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 415,662 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $91,508,000 after buying an additional 8,856 shares during the last quarter. 45.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.