Raymond James & Associates Trims Position in Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN)

Raymond James & Associates cut its position in Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 238,187 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,277 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned about 0.37% of Aspen Technology worth $52,437,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,336,062 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,047,795,000 after purchasing an additional 51,393 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Aspen Technology by 3.9% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,008,974 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $839,554,000 after acquiring an additional 188,131 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Aspen Technology by 3.5% during the third 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 acquiring an additional 124,934 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Aspen Technology by 2.1% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,812,165 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $299,678,000 after acquiring an additional 36,999 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Aspen Technology by 103,662.9% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,567,858 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $322,038,000 after acquiring an additional 1,566,347 shares in the last quarter. 45.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Aspen Technology Stock Performance

NASDAQ AZPN opened at $207.91 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -154.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $194.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $195.44. Aspen Technology, Inc. has a one year low of $161.32 and a one year high of $247.96.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on AZPN. Loop Capital raised shares of Aspen Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $180.00 to $213.00 in a research note on Friday, December 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Aspen Technology from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $196.00 price objective on shares of Aspen Technology in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $210.25.

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.