Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN)

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Aspen Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZPN) by 4.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,651 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,850 shares during the quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. owned 0.07% of Aspen Technology worth $8,869,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AZPN. LRI Investments LLC raised its position in Aspen Technology by 6.7% in the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 862 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $171,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Tortoise Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Aspen Technology by 77.8% during the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 128 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Aspen Technology by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,536 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $305,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management raised its position in shares of Aspen Technology by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 872 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $162,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Aspen Technology by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,654 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $527,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.66% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aspen Technology news, Director Jr. Robert M. Whelan sold 1,000 shares of Aspen Technology stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.10, for a total value of $219,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,871,114. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Aspen Technology Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AZPN opened at $225.48 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $14.28 billion, a P/E ratio of -512.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.75. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $204.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $204.19. Aspen Technology, Inc. has a 52-week low of $162.26 and a 52-week high of $235.10.

Aspen Technology (NASDAQ:AZPN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The technology company reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $342.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $319.10 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.87 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Aspen Technology, Inc. will post 6.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Aspen Technology Company Profile

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.