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

Shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the nine research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation and four have given 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 $41.8333.

A number of analysts recently commented on AZTA shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Azenta in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Zacks Research cut Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Azenta from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Azenta

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AZTA. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Azenta by 41.6% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,698,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,783,000 after purchasing an additional 499,216 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Azenta by 35.3% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,345,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,725,000 after buying an additional 350,930 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new stake in Azenta during the 4th quarter valued at $42,755,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Azenta by 38.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,064,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,769,000 after buying an additional 297,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC increased its position in Azenta by 19.7% during the third quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 965,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,740,000 after buying an additional 158,689 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

Azenta Price Performance

Shares of AZTA stock opened at $37.92 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $33.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.04. Azenta has a 1-year low of $23.91 and a 1-year high of $55.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a PE ratio of -29.17 and a beta of 1.32.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 21st. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.01. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.40% and a negative net margin of 10.01%.The company had revenue of $159.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.76 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.18 earnings per share. Azenta’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Azenta will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Azenta announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, December 10th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 14.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Azenta Company 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.