New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $3.61 Million Stake in Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in shares of Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,465 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,001 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Aspen Technology were worth $3,611,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AZPN. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew 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 valued at $158,318,000 after purchasing an additional 632,545 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew 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 valued at $86,799,000 after purchasing an additional 171,351 shares during the last quarter. American Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Aspen Technology by 116.9% during the third quarter. American Capital Management Inc. now owns 195,271 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,635,000 after purchasing an additional 105,254 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Aspen Technology during the third quarter valued at approximately $19,928,000. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new stake in shares of Aspen Technology during the third quarter valued at approximately $11,217,000. 45.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Aspen Technology Stock Performance

Shares of AZPN stock opened at $265.25 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $257.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $243.82. The stock has a market cap of $16.79 billion, a PE ratio of 3,316.04, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.76. Aspen Technology, Inc. has a 52-week low of $171.25 and a 52-week high of $277.37.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.03. Aspen Technology had a net margin of 0.54% and a return on equity of 3.17%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Aspen Technology, Inc. will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on AZPN shares. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Aspen Technology in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Loop Capital raised shares of Aspen Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Baird R W cut shares of Aspen Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Berenberg Bank cut shares of Aspen Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Aspen Technology from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aspen Technology currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $272.00.

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.