Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $41.22, but opened at $42.42. Azenta shares last traded at $43.56, with a volume of 22,283 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AZTA. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Azenta from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $69.00 price objective on shares of Azenta in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.40.

Azenta Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.43 and a beta of 1.48. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.85.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $173.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $166.14 million. Azenta had a negative net margin of 23.66% and a positive return on equity of 0.89%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.13 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Herman Cueto sold 1,595 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.68, for a total value of $69,669.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 24,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,074,702.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.77% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Azenta

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AZTA. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Azenta in the second quarter worth $30,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new stake in shares of Azenta during the first quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Azenta by 20.0% during 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. increased its stake in shares of Azenta by 150.9% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 955 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Azenta in the first quarter valued at $130,000. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.