Victory Capital Management Inc. Grows Position in Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN)

Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,652 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Aspen Technology were worth $2,544,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AZPN. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aspen Technology by 38.5% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 553,862 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $110,014,000 after acquiring an additional 153,897 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aspen Technology in the third quarter valued at about $290,880,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Aspen Technology by 26.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 524,604 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $104,199,000 after acquiring an additional 109,783 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Aspen Technology by 1.6% in the second 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 acquiring an additional 65,143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Aspen Technology in the third quarter valued at about $14,322,000. 45.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aspen Technology

In other Aspen Technology news, Director Jr. Robert M. Whelan sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $1,871,114. The trade was a 10.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on AZPN. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Aspen Technology from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. 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. Loop Capital lifted their target price on Aspen Technology from $204.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Berenberg Bank cut Aspen Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Aspen Technology from $225.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aspen Technology has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $253.00.

Aspen Technology Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AZPN opened at $250.85 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $238.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $217.40. Aspen Technology, Inc. has a 1-year low of $171.25 and a 1-year high of $251.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -432.50, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.76.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last issued 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 company had revenue of $215.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $265.04 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Aspen Technology, Inc. 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.