JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises Holdings in Azenta, Inc. $AZTA

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 7.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 473,315 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,393 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 1.03% of Azenta worth $13,594,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AZTA. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Azenta by 38.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,064,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,769,000 after buying an additional 297,353 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC grew its stake in Azenta by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 965,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,740,000 after acquiring an additional 158,689 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Azenta by 49.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 722,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,241,000 after acquiring an additional 238,444 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Azenta by 192.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 713,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,975,000 after acquiring an additional 469,447 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its stake in Azenta by 65.6% in the 2nd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 530,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,314,000 after purchasing an additional 209,877 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Azenta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Azenta in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Zacks Research raised Azenta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on shares of Azenta from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Azenta in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Azenta presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.33.

Azenta Stock Up 2.4%

NASDAQ:AZTA opened at $25.13 on Thursday. Azenta, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.77 and a 52 week high of $45.26. The company has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.61 and a beta of 1.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $33.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.42.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its quarterly 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). The business had revenue of $148.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.89 million. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.43% and a negative net margin of 10.34%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Azenta announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, December 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 14.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board 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.