Aspen Aerogels, Inc. (NYSE:ASPN) Short Interest Update

Aspen Aerogels, Inc. (NYSE:ASPN) was the target of a large decline in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 9,720,000 shares, a decline of 15.3% from the February 13th total of 11,470,000 shares. Currently, 12.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,940,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.0 days.

Institutional Trading of Aspen Aerogels

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ASPN. Quest Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aspen Aerogels by 263.3% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 7,397 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $205,000 after buying an additional 5,361 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aspen Aerogels in the third quarter worth $497,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Aspen Aerogels by 204.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 509,430 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $14,106,000 after buying an additional 342,253 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aspen Aerogels by 60.2% in the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 127,764 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,538,000 after buying an additional 48,007 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aspen Aerogels in the third quarter worth $1,342,000. 97.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASPN has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Aspen Aerogels to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Aspen Aerogels to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Aspen Aerogels from $25.00 to $13.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of Aspen Aerogels from $20.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Craig Hallum cut their price target on shares of Aspen Aerogels from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aspen Aerogels has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.11.

Aspen Aerogels Stock Down 2.9 %

ASPN traded down $0.21 on Thursday, reaching $7.14. 95,770 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,783,037. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $9.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.61. Aspen Aerogels has a 52-week low of $6.70 and a 52-week high of $33.15. The company has a market cap of $585.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.66 and a beta of 2.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.93 and a quick ratio of 2.48.

Aspen Aerogels (NYSE:ASPN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.11. Aspen Aerogels had a net margin of 2.95% and a return on equity of 7.49%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Aspen Aerogels will post 0.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Aspen Aerogels

Aspen Aerogels, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, and sells aerogel insulation products primarily for use in the energy infrastructure and sustainable insulation materials markets in the United States, Asia, Canada, Europe, and Latin America. It operates in two segments, Energy Industrial and Thermal Barrier.