Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $258.00.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AZPN. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Aspen Technology in a research report on Friday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Aspen Technology from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Berenberg Bank cut Aspen Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Aspen Technology from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aspen Technology

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 364.9% in the 3rd quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 172 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt bought a new position in Aspen Technology in the third quarter valued at about $48,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Aspen Technology by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 251 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 71.6% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 386 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aspen Technology during the 3rd quarter valued at about $77,000. 45.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Aspen Technology Stock Performance

AZPN stock opened at $251.52 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -433.66, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $249.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $229.92. Aspen Technology has a 52-week low of $171.25 and a 52-week high of $254.44.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The technology company reported $0.85 EPS 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 company 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 firm posted $0.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Aspen Technology will post 6.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aspen Technology Company Profile

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.