Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Buys 28,820 Shares of Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 582,682 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,820 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.92% of Aspen Technology worth $139,156,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 38.5% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 553,862 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $110,014,000 after buying an additional 153,897 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Aspen Technology during the 3rd quarter worth $290,880,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings 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 worth $104,199,000 after purchasing an additional 109,783 shares in the last quarter. Clean Energy Transition LLP bought a new position in Aspen Technology in the first quarter valued at about $22,110,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 52.9% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 293,778 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $62,657,000 after purchasing an additional 101,586 shares in the last quarter. 45.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AZPN. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Aspen Technology from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Aspen Technology from $204.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Bank of America lifted their price target 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. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Aspen Technology from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Berenberg Bank downgraded Aspen Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $253.00.

Aspen Technology Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ AZPN opened at $246.08 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.56 billion, a PE ratio of -424.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.76. Aspen Technology, Inc. has a twelve month low of $162.99 and a twelve month high of $249.91. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $235.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $214.94.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 positive return on equity of 2.81% and a negative net margin of 3.26%. The business had revenue of $215.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $265.04 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Aspen Technology, Inc. will post 6.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.