Azenta’s (AZTA) Buy Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) in a research report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $44.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 3rd. Evercore set a $50.00 target price on Azenta in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Azenta in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on Azenta from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.33.

Azenta Stock Up 3.1%

Shares of Azenta stock opened at $28.72 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $36.18 and a 200 day moving average of $32.83. Azenta has a 52 week low of $23.91 and a 52 week high of $54.20. The company has a market cap of $1.32 billion, a PE ratio of -21.27 and a beta of 1.35.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by ($0.02). Azenta had a negative net margin of 10.34% and a positive return on equity of 1.43%. The company had revenue of $148.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.89 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Azenta will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Azenta declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, December 10th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 14.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Azenta

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Azenta by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,538,946 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,965,000 after purchasing an additional 99,588 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position 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 last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Azenta by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,388,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,347,000 after buying an additional 99,897 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new stake in Azenta in the 4th quarter worth about $42,755,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in Azenta in the 4th quarter worth about $36,803,000. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.