Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,020,000 shares, a decline of 13.6% from the November 15th total of 1,180,000 shares. Currently, 3.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 345,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Institutional Trading of Aspen Technology

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Commerce Bank lifted its position in Aspen Technology by 3.1% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 1,550 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $370,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its position in Aspen Technology by 0.4% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 13,695 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,271,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC raised its stake in Aspen Technology by 6.7% during the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 862 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $171,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 3,084 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $736,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 77.8% in the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 128 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.66% of the company’s stock.

Aspen Technology Price Performance

Aspen Technology stock traded down $2.17 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $248.80. 595,101 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 250,960. Aspen Technology has a 1 year low of $171.25 and a 1 year high of $254.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -428.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.76. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $243.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $221.30.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.54). Aspen Technology had a negative net margin of 3.26% and a positive return on equity of 2.81%. The business had revenue of $215.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $265.04 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.96 earnings per share. Aspen Technology’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Aspen Technology will post 6.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AZPN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Aspen Technology in a report on Sunday, December 8th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Aspen Technology from $225.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Aspen Technology from $204.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Aspen Technology from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Berenberg Bank lowered shares of Aspen Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $258.00.

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.