Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) Cut to Hold at Baird R W

Baird R W cut shares of Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on AZPN. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Aspen Technology in a report on Saturday, January 25th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Berenberg Bank lowered shares of Aspen Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Aspen Technology from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective (down from $275.00) on shares of Aspen Technology in a report on Monday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aspen Technology currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $261.00.

Aspen Technology Price Performance

NASDAQ:AZPN opened at $263.79 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $16.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -454.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $251.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $233.48. Aspen Technology has a 1-year low of $171.25 and a 1-year high of $264.43.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last issued its quarterly 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 analysts’ expectations of $265.04 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.96 EPS. Aspen Technology’s revenue was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aspen Technology will post 6.68 earnings per share 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 37,990.7% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 634,210 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $158,318,000 after buying an additional 632,545 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 5.2% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 582,682 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $139,156,000 after buying an additional 28,820 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 89.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 363,449 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $86,799,000 after buying an additional 171,351 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 5.9% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 281,961 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $67,338,000 after buying an additional 15,744 shares during the period. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Aspen Technology by 0.3% in the third quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 251,257 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $60,005,000 after purchasing an additional 677 shares in the last quarter. 45.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.