Stephens Inc. AR Increases Stock Position in Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN)

Stephens Inc. AR grew its stake in shares of Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) by 11.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,135 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 318 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Aspen Technology were worth $749,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Aspen Technology by 77.8% in the second quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 128 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Aspen Technology by 2,600.0% during the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 135 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 313.2% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 157 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aspen Technology by 65.7% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 174 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new stake in Aspen Technology during the second quarter valued at $37,000. 45.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aspen Technology news, Director Jr. Robert M. Whelan sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.10, for a total transaction of $219,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,871,114. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on AZPN. Loop Capital raised their target price on Aspen Technology from $204.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Aspen Technology from $225.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Aspen Technology from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Aspen Technology from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aspen Technology currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $253.00.

Aspen Technology Price Performance

Shares of AZPN stock opened at $241.00 on Wednesday. Aspen Technology, Inc. has a one year low of $162.26 and a one year high of $248.00. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $233.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $213.24. The company has a market capitalization of $15.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1,506.16, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.76.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by ($0.54). The business had revenue of $215.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $265.04 million. Aspen Technology had a negative net margin of 0.87% and a positive return on equity of 2.96%. Aspen Technology’s revenue was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.96 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Aspen Technology, Inc. will post 6.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.