Short Interest in Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) Rises By 11.6%

Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,350,000 shares, a growth of 11.6% from the July 31st total of 1,210,000 shares. Approximately 5.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 194,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.9 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jr. Robert M. Whelan sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.10, for a total transaction of $219,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,871,114. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Aspen Technology by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,090,314 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $812,459,000 after buying an additional 65,143 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Aspen Technology by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 612,024 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $134,737,000 after buying an additional 44,824 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Aspen Technology by 38.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 553,862 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $110,014,000 after buying an additional 153,897 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Aspen Technology by 26.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 524,604 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $104,199,000 after buying an additional 109,783 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp boosted its position in Aspen Technology by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 340,166 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $67,567,000 after buying an additional 12,500 shares during the last quarter. 45.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Aspen Technology Trading Down 5.1 %

NASDAQ AZPN traded down $11.85 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $222.29. 112,522 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 207,321. The stock has a market cap of $14.08 billion, a PE ratio of -532.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.73. Aspen Technology has a one year low of $162.26 and a one year high of $235.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $201.29 and a 200-day moving average of $202.23.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The technology company reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.49. The business had revenue of $342.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $319.10 million. Aspen Technology had a positive return on equity of 2.96% and a negative net margin of 0.87%. Aspen Technology’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.87 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Aspen Technology will post 6.53 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on AZPN shares. William Blair raised Aspen Technology to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Aspen Technology from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Aspen Technology from $196.00 to $180.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised Aspen Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $185.00 to $255.00 in a report on Friday, May 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aspen Technology presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.50.

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.