Sargent Investment Group LLC Decreases Stock Position in Aspen Aerogels, Inc. (NYSE:ASPN)

Sargent Investment Group LLC cut its stake in Aspen Aerogels, Inc. (NYSE:ASPN - Free Report) by 26.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 274,267 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 96,782 shares during the period. Sargent Investment Group LLC owned about 0.33% of Aspen Aerogels worth $1,753,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Aspen Aerogels by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,360,246 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $51,800,000 after buying an additional 226,251 shares in the last quarter. Oaktop Capital Management II L.P. raised its stake in Aspen Aerogels by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Oaktop Capital Management II L.P. now owns 3,740,525 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $44,437,000 after buying an additional 200,000 shares in the last quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Aspen Aerogels by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 2,389,700 shares of the construction company's stock worth $28,390,000 after purchasing an additional 117,500 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Aspen Aerogels by 25.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,018,631 shares of the construction company's stock worth $23,983,000 after purchasing an additional 409,862 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Aspen Aerogels by 4,757.8% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,622,022 shares of the construction company's stock worth $19,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,588,632 shares in the last quarter. 97.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Donald R. Young acquired 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $5.35 per share, for a total transaction of $107,000.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 550,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,947,079.60. This represents a 3.77% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 4.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASPN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer lowered 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 set a $7.00 price target (down previously from $13.00) on shares of Aspen Aerogels in a report on Thursday, May 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $18.44.

Aspen Aerogels Price Performance

ASPN stock opened at $7.23 on Friday. Aspen Aerogels, Inc. has a 1 year low of $4.16 and a 1 year high of $33.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 3.53 and a current ratio of 4.22. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $6.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $7.57. The firm has a market cap of $593.66 million, a P/E ratio of -2.07 and a beta of 2.65.

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

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