Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Sells 1,850 Shares of Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN)

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) by 4.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 44,651 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,850 shares during the period. Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Aspen Technology were worth $8,869,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AZPN. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Aspen Technology by 38.5% in 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. Norges Bank bought a new position in Aspen Technology in the 4th quarter worth about $31,630,000. Clean Energy Transition LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Aspen Technology in the 1st quarter worth approximately $22,110,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Aspen Technology by 52.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 293,778 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $62,657,000 after purchasing an additional 101,586 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its position in shares of Aspen Technology by 602.2% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 74,199 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,335,000 after purchasing an additional 63,632 shares during the period. 45.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Aspen Technology from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Berenberg Bank raised shares of Aspen Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $185.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Aspen Technology currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aspen Technology

In other Aspen Technology news, Director Jr. Robert M. Whelan sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.10, for a total transaction of $219,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,540 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,871,114. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Aspen Technology Stock Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ:AZPN opened at $225.48 on Thursday. Aspen Technology, Inc. has a 52 week low of $162.26 and a 52 week high of $235.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $204.94 and a 200 day moving average of $204.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -512.45, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.75.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The technology company reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.49. Aspen Technology had a negative net margin of 0.87% and a positive return on equity of 2.96%. The company had revenue of $342.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $319.10 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.87 earnings per share. Aspen Technology’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Aspen Technology, Inc. will post 6.53 EPS for the current year.

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.