Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $41.3333.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AZTA shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Azenta from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Azenta in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $44.00 target price on shares of Azenta in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Azenta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Azenta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted 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 worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 765 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Azenta by 54.1% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Azenta by 249.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 726 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its position in Azenta by 44.9% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the period. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its position in Azenta by 98.0% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 689 shares during the period. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Azenta Trading Down 2.5%

AZTA stock opened at $21.31 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $29.10 and its 200 day moving average is $31.48. The stock has a market cap of $981.54 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.79 and a beta of 1.39. Azenta has a 1-year low of $19.93 and a 1-year high of $41.73.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $148.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.89 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Azenta will post 0.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Azenta declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 10th that permits the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 14.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.