Skylands Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Aspen Aerogels, Inc. (NYSE:ASPN)

Skylands Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Aspen Aerogels, Inc. (NYSE:ASPN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 54,800 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $350,000. Skylands Capital LLC owned about 0.07% of Aspen Aerogels as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of Aspen Aerogels by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 93,044 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,105,000 after buying an additional 2,554 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in Aspen Aerogels by 6,923.4% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 20,719 shares of the construction company's stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 20,424 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Aspen Aerogels by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 189,884 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $2,256,000 after purchasing an additional 16,094 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Aspen Aerogels by 77.0% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 181,528 shares of the construction company's stock worth $2,157,000 after buying an additional 78,993 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Aspen Aerogels by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 549,709 shares of the construction company's stock worth $6,531,000 after buying an additional 40,279 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.64% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on ASPN. TD Cowen raised shares of Aspen Aerogels to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $7.00 price objective (down from $13.00) on shares of Aspen Aerogels in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Aspen Aerogels from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $18.44.

Aspen Aerogels Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of NYSE ASPN traded up $0.12 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $6.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 673,506 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,919,191. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.06. Aspen Aerogels, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $4.16 and a fifty-two week high of $33.15. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 3.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $530.43 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.85 and a beta of 2.65.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Donald R. Young acquired 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $5.35 per share, for a total transaction of $107,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 550,856 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,947,079.60. The trade was a 3.77% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.