Piper Sandler Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) Stock

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) had its price objective increased by Piper Sandler from $217.00 to $240.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on AZPN. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Aspen Technology from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Aspen Technology from $204.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Aspen Technology from $225.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aspen Technology presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $253.00.

Aspen Technology Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of AZPN stock opened at $245.97 on Tuesday. Aspen Technology has a twelve month low of $162.26 and a twelve month high of $249.00. The stock has a market cap of $15.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -424.09, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $234.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $213.68.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $215.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $265.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.96 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Aspen Technology will post 6.53 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Aspen Technology

In other news, Director Jr. Robert M. Whelan sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 8,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,871,114. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Aspen Technology

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Aspen Technology by 38.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 553,862 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $110,014,000 after acquiring an additional 153,897 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aspen Technology during the third quarter worth $290,880,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 109,783 shares during the last quarter. Clean Energy Transition LLP acquired a new stake in Aspen Technology in the first quarter valued at $22,110,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Aspen Technology by 52.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 293,778 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $62,657,000 after buying an additional 101,586 shares during the last quarter. 45.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.