Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) Short Interest Update

Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,150,000 shares, a decline of 7.2% from the December 31st total of 4,470,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 754,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.5 days. Approximately 9.4% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Azenta

In related news, CFO Herman Cueto sold 712 shares of Azenta stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.07, for a total value of $28,529.84. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 23,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $957,352.44. This trade represents a 2.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John Marotta acquired 12,717 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $39.48 per share, with a total value of $502,067.16. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,932,681.76. This trade represents a 14.63 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,423 shares of company stock worth $57,020 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 10.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Azenta

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 65.0% in the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,577,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,894,000 after buying an additional 621,830 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Azenta by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,298,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,917,000 after purchasing an additional 183,040 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Azenta by 94.4% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 221,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,054,000 after purchasing an additional 107,339 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in Azenta by 41.0% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 265,983 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,299,000 after buying an additional 77,409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP lifted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 7.8% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 739,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,844,000 after buying an additional 53,584 shares in the last quarter. 99.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Azenta Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AZTA traded down $1.44 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $52.61. 226,026 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 395,190. Azenta has a one year low of $38.82 and a one year high of $67.77. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.40 billion, a PE ratio of -17.75 and a beta of 1.47.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $170.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $169.66 million. Azenta had a negative net margin of 25.01% and a positive return on equity of 1.03%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Azenta will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AZTA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Azenta in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on Azenta from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th.

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.