Short Interest in Aspen Aerogels, Inc. (NYSE:ASPN) Declines By 15.3%

Aspen Aerogels, Inc. (NYSE:ASPN) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 9,720,000 shares, a drop of 15.3% from the February 13th total of 11,470,000 shares. Currently, 12.4% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,940,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.0 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Craig Hallum reduced their price target on shares of Aspen Aerogels from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Aspen Aerogels from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on shares of Aspen Aerogels from $20.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. B. Riley cut their price objective on shares of Aspen Aerogels from $35.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Roth Mkm cut their price objective on shares of Aspen Aerogels from $22.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.11.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sandia Investment Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Aspen Aerogels during the fourth quarter worth about $89,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Aspen Aerogels in the fourth quarter worth $129,000. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in Aspen Aerogels by 54.0% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 11,395 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $135,000 after buying an additional 3,998 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Aspen Aerogels during the fourth quarter valued at $164,000. Finally, Connors Investor Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Aspen Aerogels during the fourth quarter valued at $168,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.64% of the company’s stock.

Aspen Aerogels Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Aspen Aerogels stock opened at $7.38 on Tuesday. Aspen Aerogels has a 52-week low of $6.70 and a 52-week high of $33.15. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $605.19 million, a P/E ratio of 46.10 and a beta of 2.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a current ratio of 2.93.

Aspen Aerogels (NYSE:ASPN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.11. Aspen Aerogels had a return on equity of 7.49% and a net margin of 2.95%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Aspen Aerogels will post 0.17 EPS for the current year.

About Aspen Aerogels

Aspen Aerogels, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, and sells aerogel insulation products primarily for use in the energy infrastructure and sustainable insulation materials markets in the United States, Asia, Canada, Europe, and Latin America. It operates in two segments, Energy Industrial and Thermal Barrier.