Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) Receives $41.33 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $41.3333.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Azenta from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Azenta in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Evercore reduced their price target on Azenta from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Zacks Research raised Azenta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Azenta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th.

Institutional Trading of Azenta

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Azenta by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,538,946 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,965,000 after acquiring an additional 99,588 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Azenta by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,866,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,081,000 after purchasing an additional 167,969 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Azenta by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,732,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,631,000 after purchasing an additional 24,062 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Azenta by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,550,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,556,000 after purchasing an additional 419,630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Azenta by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,388,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,347,000 after purchasing an additional 99,897 shares during the period. 99.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Azenta Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of AZTA stock opened at $24.30 on Monday. Azenta has a 12 month low of $23.72 and a 12 month high of $45.26. The firm has a market cap of $1.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.00 and a beta of 1.39. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $33.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.32.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $148.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.89 million. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Azenta will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Azenta declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 10th that authorizes the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 14.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management 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.