Aspen Aerogels (NYSE:ASPN) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Aspen Aerogels, Inc. (NYSE:ASPN) shares gapped down prior to trading on Monday after Barclays downgraded the stock from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating. The stock had previously closed at $7.55, but opened at $7.12. Barclays now has a $16.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $7.00. Aspen Aerogels shares last traded at $6.74, with a volume of 985,314 shares traded.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on Aspen Aerogels from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer cut Aspen Aerogels from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aspen Aerogels

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ASPN. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Aspen Aerogels by 1,094.8% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,791 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 4,390 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Aspen Aerogels by 67.3% in the 2nd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 6,343 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 2,551 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Aspen Aerogels in the 1st quarter worth $43,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new stake in Aspen Aerogels in the 1st quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in Aspen Aerogels by 460.4% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 7,436 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 6,109 shares in the last quarter. 97.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Aspen Aerogels Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 3.98, a quick ratio of 3.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market cap of $571.99 million, a PE ratio of -1.82 and a beta of 2.73. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $7.00.

Aspen Aerogels (NYSE:ASPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The construction company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by $0.08. Aspen Aerogels had a positive return on equity of 2.92% and a negative net margin of 78.53%. The business had revenue of $78.02 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.53 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.21 EPS. Aspen Aerogels’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Aspen Aerogels, Inc. will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aspen Aerogels Company Profile

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.