Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Earns Overweight Rating from Stephens

Stephens reiterated their overweight rating on shares of Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $60.00 price target on the stock.

AZTA has been the topic of several other reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Azenta from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on Azenta from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.60.

Azenta Stock Performance

Shares of AZTA stock opened at $50.52 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.01 and a beta of 1.49. Azenta has a one year low of $38.82 and a one year high of $69.16. The company’s 50-day moving average is $46.22 and its 200 day moving average is $49.15.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $170.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $169.66 million. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.03% and a negative net margin of 25.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Azenta will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Azenta news, Director William L. Cornog purchased 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $39.60 per share, with a total value of $495,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 14,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $584,298. The trade was a 554.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Herman Cueto sold 1,595 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.68, for a total transaction of $69,669.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,074,702.72. This trade represents a 6.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,018 shares of company stock worth $126,689. Corporate insiders own 10.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Azenta

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Azenta by 3.8% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 515,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,120,000 after purchasing an additional 18,680 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Azenta by 31.7% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,220 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,380,000 after purchasing an additional 6,318 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Azenta by 2.0% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $739,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Azenta by 118.2% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 5,196 shares of the company’s stock worth $273,000 after purchasing an additional 2,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its stake in Azenta by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 53,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,806,000 after buying an additional 4,516 shares in the last quarter. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Azenta

Azenta, Inc provides biological and chemical compound sample exploration and management solutions for the life sciences market in North America, Africa, China, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company operates in two reportable segments, Life Sciences Products and Life Sciences Services.