Front Street Capital Management Inc. Buys New Holdings in Azenta, Inc. $AZTA

Front Street Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,301,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,212,000. Azenta accounts for approximately 3.8% of Front Street Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AZTA. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 2,067.6% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 802 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 765 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Azenta by 54.1% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 832 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in Azenta during the first quarter valued at $38,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Azenta by 44.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the period. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Azenta by 98.0% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 689 shares during the last quarter. 99.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Azenta Stock Down 12.1%

NASDAQ:AZTA opened at $32.88 on Tuesday. Azenta, Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.93 and a 52 week high of $41.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a PE ratio of -11.91 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $28.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.03.

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

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.