Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $39.50.

Several brokerages have commented on AZTA. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Azenta from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on shares of Azenta from $44.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th.

Azenta Price Performance

AZTA opened at $22.72 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.74 and a beta of 1.39. Azenta has a 12 month low of $15.93 and a 12 month high of $41.73.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $144.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $148.47 million. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.23% and a negative net margin of 30.49%.The company’s revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.01 EPS.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Azenta

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Azenta by 116.1% during the 1st quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,844,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,105,000 after buying an additional 1,528,145 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Azenta during the fourth quarter worth about $42,755,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in shares of Azenta in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,803,000. Front Street Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Azenta by 211.7% during the first quarter. Front Street Capital Management Inc. now owns 889,009 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,785,000 after buying an additional 603,757 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Azenta by 41.6% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,698,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,783,000 after buying an additional 499,216 shares during the period. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.