Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) Short Interest Update

Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,470,000 shares, a decrease of 6.9% from the November 30th total of 4,800,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 759,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.9 days. Approximately 10.1% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Transactions at Azenta

In other Azenta news, CFO Herman Cueto sold 712 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.07, for a total value of $28,529.84. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 23,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $957,352.44. This trade represents a 2.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John Marotta bought 12,717 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $39.48 per share, with a total value of $502,067.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,932,681.76. This trade represents a 14.63 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,018 shares of company stock worth $126,689 in the last three months. Company insiders own 10.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Azenta during the 3rd quarter valued at $352,000. XTX Topco Ltd raised its position in Azenta by 150.8% during the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 24,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,199,000 after acquiring an additional 14,880 shares in the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Azenta in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,726,000. State Street Corp grew its position in Azenta by 0.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,686,993 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,718,000 after acquiring an additional 6,398 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Azenta by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 59,241 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,870,000 after purchasing an additional 3,601 shares during the last quarter. 99.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Azenta Trading Up 0.1 %

AZTA traded up $0.05 on Wednesday, reaching $50.00. The company had a trading volume of 328,221 shares, compared to its average volume of 569,272. The company has a fifty day moving average of $45.67 and a 200-day moving average of $49.22. The company has a market capitalization of $2.28 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.83 and a beta of 1.49. Azenta has a one year low of $38.82 and a one year high of $69.16.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $170.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $169.66 million. Azenta had a negative net margin of 25.01% and a positive return on equity of 1.03%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.13 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Azenta will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AZTA shares. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on shares of Azenta from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Stephens upgraded Azenta from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on Azenta from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.60.

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.