TD Cowen Boosts Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Price Target to $39.00

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) had its price target lifted by research analysts at TD Cowen from $35.00 to $39.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “hold” rating on the stock. TD Cowen’s price target suggests a potential upside of 2.85% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 3rd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Azenta from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Evercore ISI set a $50.00 target price on shares of Azenta in a research note on Monday. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on Azenta from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.83.

Azenta Trading Up 1.1%

AZTA stock opened at $37.92 on Thursday. Azenta has a 1-year low of $23.91 and a 1-year high of $55.63. The firm has a market cap of $1.74 billion, a PE ratio of -29.17 and a beta of 1.32. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $33.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.03.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 21st. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.01. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.40% and a negative net margin of 10.01%.The company had revenue of $159.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.76 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.18 earnings per share. Azenta’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Azenta will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Azenta declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 10th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 14.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Azenta

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Azenta during the 1st quarter worth approximately $505,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Azenta by 31.7% during the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 149,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,566,000 after buying an additional 35,874 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Azenta by 44.2% during the second quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 417,597 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,854,000 after acquiring an additional 128,084 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Azenta during the second quarter worth $128,000. Finally, Kera Capital Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Azenta in the second quarter valued at $321,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

About Azenta

Azenta, Inc (NASDAQ: AZTA) is a life sciences technology company specializing in sample management, cryogenic storage and genomic services for research and clinical applications. Formerly the Life Sciences division of Brooks Automation, Azenta provides integrated solutions that enable customers to store, track and analyze biological samples with high levels of automation, data integrity and efficiency. Its offerings span automated storage systems, biorepository management software and end‐to‐end sample tracking workflows.

In addition to hardware and informatics platforms for sample storage, Azenta’s Genomics business delivers next‐generation sequencing (NGS), DNA synthesis, and molecular biology services.