Natixis Advisors LLC Sells 5,615 Shares of Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN)

Natixis Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) by 30.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,932 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 5,615 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Aspen Technology were worth $3,228,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AZPN. Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in shares of Aspen Technology during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Impact Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Aspen Technology in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,009,000. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lifted its stake in Aspen Technology by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 7,763 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,933,000 after buying an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Vestcor Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Aspen Technology by 2,238.8% in the fourth quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 15,670 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,912,000 after buying an additional 15,000 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Aspen Technology by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,386 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $845,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. 45.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AZPN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Aspen Technology from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Baird R W cut Aspen Technology from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 target price (down previously from $275.00) on shares of Aspen Technology in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Aspen Technology in a research note on Saturday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Loop Capital raised shares of Aspen Technology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $265.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Aspen Technology currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $272.00.

Aspen Technology Price Performance

Shares of Aspen Technology stock opened at $264.33 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $16.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 3,304.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.73. Aspen Technology, Inc. has a 12-month low of $171.25 and a 12-month high of $277.37. The business’s 50 day moving average is $262.36 and its 200-day moving average is $249.17.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts expect that Aspen Technology, Inc. will post 6.7 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.