Verition Fund Management LLC Purchases Shares of 18,022 Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 18,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $873,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AZTA. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Azenta in the 2nd quarter valued at $611,000. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Azenta by 0.5% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 110,948 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,838,000 after buying an additional 594 shares during the period. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Azenta in the second quarter valued at about $1,486,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Azenta by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 515,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,120,000 after buying an additional 18,680 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Azenta by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,115,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,714,000 after buying an additional 56,387 shares during the period. 99.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on AZTA shares. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of 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 lowered their price target on shares of Azenta from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Azenta currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.60.

Insider Transactions at Azenta

In other Azenta news, CEO John Marotta acquired 12,717 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $39.48 per share, for a total transaction of $502,067.16. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,612 shares in the company, valued at $3,932,681.76. The trade was a 14.63 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Herman Cueto sold 1,595 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.68, for a total value 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 trade represents a 6.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,018 shares of company stock valued at $126,689. Insiders own 1.77% of the company’s stock.

Azenta Trading Up 2.7 %

Azenta stock opened at $46.84 on Tuesday. Azenta, Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.82 and a 52 week high of $69.16. The stock has a market cap of $2.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.77 and a beta of 1.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $44.69 and a 200-day moving average of $49.67.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 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 negative net margin of 25.01% and a positive return on equity of 1.03%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.13 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.