Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Earns Overweight Rating from Stephens

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Stephens in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $60.00 target price on the stock. Stephens’ target price suggests a potential upside of 18.76% from the company’s previous close.

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

Azenta Stock Performance

AZTA opened at $50.52 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.01 and a beta of 1.49. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.20. Azenta has a 52-week low of $38.82 and a 52-week high of $69.16.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $170.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $169.66 million. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.03% and a negative net margin of 25.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.13 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Azenta will post 0.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Azenta

In other Azenta news, CFO Herman Cueto sold 1,595 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $1,074,702.72. The trade was a 6.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director William L. Cornog acquired 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $39.60 per share, with a total value of $495,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 14,755 shares in the company, valued at $584,298. This trade represents a 554.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AZTA. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Azenta by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Azenta by 150.9% in the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 955 shares during the last quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new stake in Azenta during the 3rd quarter worth about $205,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Azenta in the second quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Azenta in the 2nd quarter valued at $232,000. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.