Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN – Get Rating) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 664,300 shares, an increase of 19.9% from the August 31st total of 554,200 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 155,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.3 days. Currently, 2.4% of the company's shares are short sold.

Aspen Technology Stock Performance

Shares of AZPN stock opened at $238.20 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $15.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.71, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.19. The company's 50 day moving average is $214.30 and its 200 day moving average is $188.62. The company has a quick ratio of 4.07, a current ratio of 3.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. Aspen Technology has a 52-week low of $122.29 and a 52-week high of $240.56.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 8th. The technology company reported $2.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.36. The company had revenue of $238.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $293.17 million. Aspen Technology had a net margin of 31.82% and a return on equity of 8.23%. Aspen Technology's revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.43 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aspen Technology will post 6.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Insider Activity at Aspen Technology

In related news, VP F G. Hammond sold 4,262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.57, for a total value of $901,711.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 20,606 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,359,611.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aspen Technology

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Aspen Technology by 124.2% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 305,547 shares of the technology company's stock worth $46,504,000 after purchasing an additional 169,290 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Aspen Technology by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,775,166 shares of the technology company's stock worth $270,180,000 after purchasing an additional 54,493 shares during the last quarter. Eaton Vance Management grew its holdings in Aspen Technology by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 9,844 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,417,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its holdings in Aspen Technology by 25.6% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 36,623 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,574,000 after purchasing an additional 7,462 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wetherby Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Aspen Technology in the fourth quarter worth $234,000. 93.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Aspen Technology

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Aspen Technology, Inc provides enterprise asset performance management, asset performance monitoring, and asset optimization solutions worldwide. The company's solutions address complex environments where it is critical to optimize the asset design, operation, and maintenance lifecycle. It offers artificial intelligence of things, aspen hybrid models, asset performance management, OSI digital grid management, and performance engineering; production optimization for commodity polymers, olefins, refining, and specialty chemicals; subsurface science and engineering; and value chain optimization for energy and polymers and specialty chemicals solutions.

Further Reading

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