Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Given Buy Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $44.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target indicates a potential upside of 110.43% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on AZTA. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Azenta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Azenta from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Evercore dropped their target price on Azenta from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Wall Street Zen cut Azenta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Azenta in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.33.

Azenta Trading Down 2.4%

Shares of NASDAQ AZTA opened at $20.91 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $963.11 million, a P/E ratio of -15.49 and a beta of 1.39. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.00. Azenta has a 12-month low of $20.45 and a 12-month high of $41.73.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $148.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.89 million. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.43% and a negative net margin of 10.34%.Azenta’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.08 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Azenta will post 0.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Azenta announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 10th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 14.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Azenta

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AZTA. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its position in shares of Azenta by 2,067.6% during the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 802 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 765 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in Azenta by 54.1% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in Azenta by 249.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 726 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its position in Azenta by 44.9% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in Azenta by 98.0% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 689 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

About Azenta

Azenta, Inc (NASDAQ: AZTA) is a life sciences technology company specializing in sample management, cryogenic storage and genomic services for research and clinical applications. Formerly the Life Sciences division of Brooks Automation, Azenta provides integrated solutions that enable customers to store, track and analyze biological samples with high levels of automation, data integrity and efficiency. Its offerings span automated storage systems, biorepository management software and end‐to‐end sample tracking workflows.

In addition to hardware and informatics platforms for sample storage, Azenta’s Genomics business delivers next‐generation sequencing (NGS), DNA synthesis, and molecular biology services.