Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Azenta in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore cut their price target on Azenta from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on Azenta from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Azenta from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Azenta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.33.

Azenta Stock Up 3.1%

NASDAQ AZTA opened at $28.72 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $36.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.83. Azenta has a 52 week low of $23.91 and a 52 week high of $54.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.27 and a beta of 1.35.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by ($0.02). Azenta had a negative net margin of 10.34% and a positive return on equity of 1.43%. The business had revenue of $148.64 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.89 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.08 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Azenta will post 0.53 EPS for the current year.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Azenta by 54.1% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Azenta by 44.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Azenta by 27.3% in 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 during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Azenta by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 7,695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. 99.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.