MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 3,054 Shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

MetLife Investment Management LLC decreased its position in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 25,353 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,054 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned about 0.05% of Azenta worth $1,228,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Azenta by 16.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,970,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,331,000 after acquiring an additional 421,719 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Azenta by 16.4% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,298,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,917,000 after acquiring an additional 183,040 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Azenta by 1.9% in the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 5,298,040 shares of the company’s stock worth $278,783,000 after acquiring an additional 100,826 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its stake in Azenta by 433.6% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 73,055 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,844,000 after acquiring an additional 59,364 shares during the period. Finally, Royce & Associates LP lifted its stake in Azenta by 7.8% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 739,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,844,000 after acquiring an additional 53,584 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Azenta

In related news, CEO John Marotta purchased 12,717 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $39.48 per share, with a total value of $502,067.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,612 shares in the company, valued at $3,932,681.76. This trade represents a 14.63 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Herman Cueto sold 712 shares of Azenta stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.07, for a total value of $28,529.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 23,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $957,352.44. This represents a 2.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,018 shares of company stock valued at $126,689 in the last quarter. 1.77% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AZTA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Azenta from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on Azenta from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.60.

Azenta Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Azenta stock opened at $45.59 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.35 and a beta of 1.49. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.71. Azenta, Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.82 and a 12 month high of $69.16.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $170.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.13 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

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.