Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Acquires 274,587 Shares of Aspen Aerogels, Inc. (NYSE:ASPN)

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Aspen Aerogels, Inc. (NYSE:ASPN - Free Report) by 49.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 828,789 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 274,587 shares during the quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned 1.01% of Aspen Aerogels worth $5,296,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Aspen Aerogels by 460.4% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 7,436 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 6,109 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Aspen Aerogels by 2,137.9% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,325 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 7,953 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of Aspen Aerogels in the 1st quarter valued at about $65,000. Sandia Investment Management LP bought a new position in shares of Aspen Aerogels in the 4th quarter valued at about $89,000. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Aspen Aerogels in the 1st quarter valued at about $109,000. Institutional investors own 97.64% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aspen Aerogels

In other news, CEO Donald R. Young acquired 20,000 shares of Aspen Aerogels stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $5.35 per share, with a total value of $107,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 550,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,947,079.60. The trade was a 3.77% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 4.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Aspen Aerogels from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $7.00 price objective (down previously from $13.00) on shares of Aspen Aerogels in a report on Thursday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $18.44.

Aspen Aerogels Stock Up 4.7%

Shares of Aspen Aerogels stock traded up $0.30 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $6.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 383,076 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,024,858. Aspen Aerogels, Inc. has a one year low of $4.16 and a one year high of $33.15. The company has a market capitalization of $544.80 million, a P/E ratio of -1.90 and a beta of 2.65. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $6.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $7.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 3.53 and a current ratio of 4.22.

Aspen Aerogels (NYSE:ASPN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The construction company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.01. Aspen Aerogels had a negative net margin of 65.47% and a positive return on equity of 6.69%. The company had revenue of $78.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $82.75 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.02) earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Aspen Aerogels, Inc. will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Aspen Aerogels 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.