DnB Asset Management AS Has $5.70 Million Stock Position in Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN)

DnB Asset Management AS boosted its holdings in shares of Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,821 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,844 shares during the quarter. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Aspen Technology were worth $5,697,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings 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 worth $158,318,000 after acquiring an additional 632,545 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Aspen Technology in the 4th quarter valued at $70,813,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Aspen Technology in the 4th quarter valued at $66,680,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Aspen Technology by 89.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 363,449 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $86,799,000 after buying an additional 171,351 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Aspen Technology by 345.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 142,897 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,874,000 after buying an additional 110,838 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on AZPN. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective (down from $275.00) on shares of Aspen Technology in a report on Monday, January 27th. Loop Capital raised shares of Aspen Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $265.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Aspen Technology in a research report on Sunday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Aspen Technology from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Baird R W downgraded shares of Aspen Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $272.00.

Aspen Technology Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AZPN opened at $264.33 on Monday. Aspen Technology, Inc. has a 52-week low of $171.25 and a 52-week high of $277.37. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $263.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $250.66. The firm has a market cap of $16.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 3,304.54, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.73.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.03. Aspen Technology had a net margin of 0.54% and a return on equity of 3.17%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Aspen Technology, Inc. will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.