Jefferies Financial Group Has Lowered Expectations for Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Stock Price

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) had its target price reduced by Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $40.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 43.63% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on AZTA. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Azenta in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI set a $50.00 target price on Azenta in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Zacks Research raised shares of Azenta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Azenta in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.33.

Azenta Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of AZTA opened at $27.85 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.85. The company has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a P/E ratio of -20.63 and a beta of 1.35. Azenta has a twelve month low of $23.91 and a twelve month high of $55.63.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by ($0.02). Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.43% and a negative net margin of 10.34%.The firm had revenue of $148.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.89 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.08 earnings per share. Azenta’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Azenta will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Azenta

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AZTA. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Azenta by 54.1% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 832 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Azenta by 249.5% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 726 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Azenta by 44.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 385 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its position in Azenta by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Azenta in the 3rd quarter valued at $57,000. Institutional investors own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

Key Azenta News

Here are the key news stories impacting Azenta this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to express upside: Needham reaffirmed its “buy” rating and a $44 price target (implies ~58% upside from current levels). Needham Coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore kept an “outperform” rating and a $45 target despite trimming its prior $50 target — the new target still implies substantial upside from current prices. Evercore Note
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies cut its price target from $42 to $40 but maintained a “buy” rating, signaling continued analyst conviction despite a more cautious near-term view. Jefferies Coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Revenue slightly beat estimates: Q1 revenue was $148.64M vs. consensus $146.89M, and revenue grew ~0.8% YoY — a modest top-line positive but not strong enough to offset margin/earnings weakness. Q1 Release / Slide Deck
• Neutral Sentiment: Company released its Q1 results press release, slide deck and the earnings-call materials — useful for assessing forward commentary and segment trends. Press Release
• Neutral Sentiment: Full earnings call transcript and the presentation are available for deeper detail on guidance, order trends and cost actions — important for investors evaluating whether margin pressure is temporary. Earnings Call Transcript Presentation
• Negative Sentiment: EPS missed consensus: reported $0.09 vs. $0.11 expected — the miss and a negative net margin (~-10%) are the primary near-term negative drivers weighing on the stock. Earnings Summary

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.