Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Upgraded by Stephens to “Overweight” Rating

Stephens upgraded shares of Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. Stephens currently has $60.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $50.00.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Azenta from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Azenta from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.60.

Azenta Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AZTA opened at $50.43 on Wednesday. Azenta has a 52 week low of $38.82 and a 52 week high of $69.16. The company has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a PE ratio of -16.98 and a beta of 1.49. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.45.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its 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. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.03% and a negative net margin of 25.01%. The company had revenue of $170.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $169.66 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Azenta will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Azenta news, CFO Herman Cueto sold 1,595 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.68, for a total transaction of $69,669.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,074,702.72. This represents a 6.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO John Marotta purchased 12,717 shares of Azenta stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,932,681.76. The trade was a 14.63 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,018 shares of company stock worth $126,689 in the last three months. 1.77% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Azenta

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Azenta in the 3rd quarter worth $352,000. XTX Topco Ltd grew its position in shares of Azenta by 150.8% in the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 24,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,199,000 after purchasing an additional 14,880 shares during the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Azenta in the third quarter worth about $1,726,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Azenta by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,686,993 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,718,000 after purchasing an additional 6,398 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in Azenta by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 59,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,870,000 after purchasing an additional 3,601 shares during the period. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.