Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Upgraded to Overweight at Stephens

Stephens upgraded shares of Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $60.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $50.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on Azenta from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Azenta from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Azenta presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.60.

Azenta Price Performance

Azenta stock opened at $49.65 on Wednesday. Azenta has a 12-month low of $38.82 and a 12-month high of $69.16. The company has a market capitalization of $2.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.72 and a beta of 1.49. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $44.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.45.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $170.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.13 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Azenta will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Azenta

In related news, CFO Herman Cueto sold 1,595 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.68, for a total transaction of $69,669.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,604 shares in the company, valued at $1,074,702.72. This represents a 6.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John Marotta purchased 12,717 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $39.48 per share, with a total value of $502,067.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,932,681.76. The trade was a 14.63 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,018 shares of company stock worth $126,689. 1.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AZTA. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Azenta by 0.5% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 110,948 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,838,000 after buying an additional 594 shares during the period. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Azenta in the second quarter worth $1,486,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Azenta by 3.8% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 515,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,120,000 after purchasing an additional 18,680 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Azenta by 5.3% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,115,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,714,000 after purchasing an additional 56,387 shares during the period. Finally, Peregrine Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Azenta by 1.3% in the second quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 97,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,106,000 after purchasing an additional 1,259 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

Azenta Company Profile

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.