Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Hits New 12-Month Low – Here’s Why

Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) shares hit a new 52-week low on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $16.79 and last traded at $17.14, with a volume of 77188 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.53.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AZTA. Evercore cut their target price on Azenta from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Azenta in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of Azenta from $44.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Azenta from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Azenta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Azenta currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.50.

Azenta Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $784.94 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.30 and a beta of 1.43. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.77.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.16). Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.23% and a negative net margin of 30.49%.The business had revenue of $144.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $148.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.01 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Azenta

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in Azenta by 2,067.6% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 802 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 765 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in Azenta by 54.1% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 832 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Azenta by 249.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 726 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Azenta by 44.9% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the period. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in Azenta by 98.0% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 689 shares during the period. 99.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.