295,898 Shares in Azenta, Inc. $AZTA Purchased by Palisade Capital Management LP

Palisade Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 295,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,551,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Azenta by 26.9% during the 1st quarter. American Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,296,024 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,385,000 after purchasing an additional 274,588 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Azenta by 12.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 468,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,890,000 after buying an additional 52,757 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP lifted its position in Azenta by 152.5% in the first quarter. Caxton Associates LLP now owns 173,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,655,000 after buying an additional 104,497 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in Azenta by 21,522.4% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 285,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,035,000 after buying an additional 284,311 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in Azenta during the first quarter worth $1,509,000. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AZTA. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Azenta from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Azenta from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.20.

Azenta Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of AZTA opened at $33.21 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.03 and a beta of 1.37. Azenta, Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.93 and a 12-month high of $41.73. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $28.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.07.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.05. Azenta had a negative net margin of 20.63% and a positive return on equity of 1.18%. The firm had revenue of $161.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $149.31 million.

About Azenta

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.