Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) Sets New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $255.54 and last traded at $255.02, with a volume of 120748 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $251.52.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Berenberg Bank downgraded Aspen Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Aspen Technology from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Aspen Technology from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Aspen Technology in a report on Friday, January 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Four 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 company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $258.00.

Aspen Technology Trading Down 0.9 %

The company has a market capitalization of $16.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -440.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.76. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $250.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $231.09.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $215.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $265.04 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Aspen Technology, Inc. will post 6.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Aspen Technology

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in Aspen Technology in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $327,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Aspen Technology in the 4th quarter valued at $160,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aspen Technology by 45.2% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 22,631 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,649,000 after acquiring an additional 7,048 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its position in Aspen Technology by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 41,158 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,274,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Aspen Technology by 7,575.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 307 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. 45.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.