Nordea Investment Management AB Sells 29,689 Shares of Azenta, Inc. $AZTA

Nordea Investment Management AB decreased its stake in shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 11.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 238,908 shares of the company’s stock after selling 29,689 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in Azenta were worth $8,008,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 41.6% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,698,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,783,000 after buying an additional 499,216 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Azenta by 38.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,064,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,769,000 after buying an additional 297,353 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC raised its position in Azenta by 19.7% during the third quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 965,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,740,000 after acquiring an additional 158,689 shares in the last quarter. American Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Azenta by 5.6% during the third quarter. American Capital Management Inc. now owns 829,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,818,000 after acquiring an additional 43,996 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Azenta by 49.3% in the second 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. Institutional investors own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Azenta in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Azenta in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded Azenta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Evercore lowered 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. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $44.00 price objective on shares of Azenta in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.33.

Azenta Price Performance

AZTA stock opened at $21.86 on Thursday. Azenta, Inc. has a one year low of $19.93 and a one year high of $41.73. The stock has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.19 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $29.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.55.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $148.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.89 million. Azenta had a negative net margin of 10.34% and a positive return on equity of 1.43%. Azenta’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.08 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Azenta announced that its Board of Directors 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 repurchase up to 14.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Azenta 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.