Premier Fund Managers Ltd Takes Position in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Premier Fund Managers Ltd bought a new position in shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 13,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $686,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Azenta in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in Azenta by 20.0% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Azenta by 150.9% in the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,588 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 955 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Azenta during the 1st quarter valued at $130,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Azenta by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,000 after acquiring an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Azenta

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AZTA. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Azenta from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on Azenta from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Azenta currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.60.

Azenta Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of Azenta stock opened at $40.91 on Wednesday. Azenta, Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.82 and a 12 month high of $69.16. The stock has a market cap of $2.00 billion, a PE ratio of -13.77 and a beta of 1.48. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.26.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $170.00 million during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. Analysts expect that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.