Azenta, Inc. $AZTA Shares Acquired by Rice Hall James & Associates LLC

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 64.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 65,395 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 25,738 shares during the quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned approximately 0.14% of Azenta worth $2,175,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Meros Investment Management LP increased its position in shares of Azenta by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Meros Investment Management LP now owns 166,845 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,549,000 after purchasing an additional 6,900 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its position in shares of Azenta by 84.2% during the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 148,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,931,000 after purchasing an additional 67,749 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Azenta during the fourth quarter worth approximately $258,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its position in shares of Azenta by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 556,008 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,493,000 after purchasing an additional 14,213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP purchased a new stake in shares of Azenta during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,593,000. 99.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Azenta Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of Azenta stock opened at $23.13 on Wednesday. Azenta, Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.93 and a 52 week high of $41.73. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.94. The firm has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of -5.84 and a beta of 1.39.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AZTA has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Azenta from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on Azenta from $44.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.50.

Azenta Profile

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.