GW&K Investment Management LLC Has $32.47 Million Position in Azenta, Inc. $AZTA

GW&K Investment Management LLC decreased its stake in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,130,471 shares of the company’s stock after selling 121,069 shares during the period. GW&K Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Azenta were worth $32,468,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AZTA. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in Azenta by 192.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 713,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,975,000 after purchasing an additional 469,447 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Azenta by 38.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,064,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,769,000 after buying an additional 297,353 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Azenta by 49.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 722,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,241,000 after buying an additional 238,444 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Azenta by 214.8% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 340,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,798,000 after buying an additional 232,405 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its holdings in Azenta by 65.6% in the second quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 530,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,314,000 after buying an additional 209,877 shares during the period. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on AZTA shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 price target on shares of Azenta in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Zacks Research upgraded Azenta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Wall Street Zen cut Azenta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Azenta from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Azenta in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.33.

Azenta Stock Performance

AZTA stock opened at $24.79 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.37. The company has a market cap of $1.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.36 and a beta of 1.39. Azenta, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.77 and a fifty-two week high of $45.26.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $148.64 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.89 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.08 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Azenta declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.