Azenta’s (AZTA) Overweight Rating Reiterated at Stephens

Stephens reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $60.00 target price on the stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on AZTA. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Azenta from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Azenta from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.60.

Azenta Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AZTA opened at $50.52 on Thursday. Azenta has a 12 month low of $38.82 and a 12 month high of $69.16. The stock has a market cap of $2.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.01 and a beta of 1.49. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $46.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.15.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $170.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $169.66 million. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.03% and a negative net margin of 25.01%. The company’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.13 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Azenta will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Herman Cueto sold 712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.07, for a total transaction of $28,529.84. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 23,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $957,352.44. The trade was a 2.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director William L. Cornog bought 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $39.60 per share, for a total transaction of $495,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 14,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $584,298. The trade was a 554.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,018 shares of company stock valued at $126,689. 10.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Azenta

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Azenta by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its position in Azenta by 150.9% during the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,588 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 955 shares in the last quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new position in shares of Azenta in the 3rd quarter worth about $205,000. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new position in shares of Azenta during the 3rd quarter valued at about $214,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Azenta during the 2nd quarter valued at about $222,000. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Azenta

Azenta, Inc provides biological and chemical compound sample exploration and management solutions for the life sciences market in North America, Africa, China, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company operates in two reportable segments, Life Sciences Products and Life Sciences Services.