Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Decreases Stake in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board reduced its stake in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 56.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,975 shares of the company’s stock after selling 28,803 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Azenta were worth $1,064,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AZTA. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Azenta by 16.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,970,964 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,331,000 after purchasing an additional 421,719 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position 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 valued at $62,917,000 after purchasing an additional 183,040 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Azenta by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 5,298,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $278,783,000 after purchasing an additional 100,826 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in Azenta by 433.6% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 73,055 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,844,000 after buying an additional 59,364 shares during the period. Finally, Royce & Associates LP increased its holdings in Azenta by 7.8% in the 3rd 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 during the period. 99.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Transactions at Azenta

In related news, CEO John Marotta acquired 12,717 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $39.48 per share, with a total value of $502,067.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 99,612 shares in the company, valued at $3,932,681.76. This represents a 14.63 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director William L. Cornog bought 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $39.60 per share, with a total value of $495,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 14,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $584,298. The trade was a 554.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.77% of the company’s stock.

Azenta Price Performance

NASDAQ AZTA opened at $44.65 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.03 and a beta of 1.48. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $45.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.22. Azenta, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.82 and a 1-year high of $69.16.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.08. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.03% and a negative net margin of 25.01%. The company had revenue of $170.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $169.66 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. Azenta’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.