Brokerages Set Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) PT at $42.17

Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $41.3333.

Several research firms have recently commented on AZTA. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 price target on shares of Azenta in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Azenta in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Zacks Research upgraded Azenta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Evercore cut their target price on Azenta from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Azenta from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th.

Azenta Stock Performance

Shares of AZTA stock opened at $29.80 on Thursday. Azenta has a fifty-two week low of $23.91 and a fifty-two week high of $52.62. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $36.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a P/E ratio of -22.07 and a beta of 1.35.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last issued its 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). The business had revenue of $148.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $146.89 million. Azenta had a negative net margin of 10.34% and a positive return on equity of 1.43%. Azenta’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.08 earnings per share. On average, equities 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 plan on Wednesday, December 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 14.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Azenta

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Azenta by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 9,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its stake in shares of Azenta by 482.7% in the fourth quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 57,731 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,920,000 after buying an additional 47,824 shares in the last quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Azenta by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 58,118 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,933,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Azenta by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,072,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,656,000 after buying an additional 106,177 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in Azenta by 90,073.0% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 170,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,668,000 after acquiring an additional 170,238 shares in 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.