Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Receives Overweight Rating from Stephens

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Stephens in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $60.00 target price on the stock. Stephens’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 20.00% from the stock’s current price.

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

Azenta Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AZTA opened at $50.00 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.28 billion, a PE ratio of -16.83 and a beta of 1.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $45.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.22. Azenta has a twelve month low of $38.82 and a twelve month high of $69.16.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 negative net margin of 25.01% and a positive return on equity of 1.03%. The firm had revenue of $170.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $169.66 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Azenta will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Azenta

In other Azenta news, Director William L. Cornog acquired 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $39.60 per share, for a total transaction of $495,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 14,755 shares in the company, valued at $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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.68, for a total transaction of $69,669.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 24,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,074,702.72. The trade was 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 valued at $126,689. Insiders own 10.62% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Azenta

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $278,783,000 after purchasing an additional 100,826 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Azenta by 16.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,970,964 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,331,000 after buying an additional 421,719 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Azenta by 0.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,686,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,718,000 after acquiring an additional 6,398 shares in the last quarter. 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. Finally, Royce & Associates LP grew its holdings in Azenta by 7.8% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by 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.