Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank cut its holdings in shares of Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 91,000 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,400 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.14% of Aspen Technology worth $20,034,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AZPN. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its position in Aspen Technology by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 3,721,956 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $760,247,000 after buying an additional 124,934 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Aspen Technology by 12.9% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,044,959 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $215,920,000 after acquiring an additional 119,102 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Aspen Technology by 116.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 567,200 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $115,856,000 after purchasing an additional 304,712 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Aspen Technology by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 415,662 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $91,508,000 after purchasing an additional 8,856 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp grew its position in Aspen Technology by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 198,913 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,630,000 after purchasing an additional 13,009 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AZPN has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Aspen Technology from $225.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised Aspen Technology from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Aspen Technology from $196.00 to $180.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $201.00.

Aspen Technology Price Performance

Shares of Aspen Technology stock opened at $205.94 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $13.09 billion, a PE ratio of -152.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $202.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $196.51. Aspen Technology, Inc. has a 1 year low of $161.32 and a 1 year high of $224.77.

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

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.