Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Upgraded to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Azenta from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Evercore ISI set a $50.00 price objective on Azenta in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Azenta in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Azenta in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Azenta from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.83.

Azenta Price Performance

AZTA traded down $0.87 on Monday, reaching $39.26. 129,175 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 499,055. Azenta has a 52-week low of $23.91 and a 52-week high of $55.63. The company has a market cap of $1.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.30 and a beta of 1.32. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $36.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.69.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 21st. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.01. Azenta had a negative net margin of 10.01% and a positive return on equity of 1.40%. The business had revenue of $159.19 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.76 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.18 EPS. Azenta’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Azenta will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Azenta declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 10th that authorizes the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 14.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AZTA. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in Azenta in the 1st quarter valued at $435,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Azenta by 214.8% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 340,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,798,000 after buying an additional 232,405 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Azenta by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,482 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,000 after buying an additional 618 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its position in Azenta by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 201,337 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,974,000 after buying an additional 30,492 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Azenta by 41.6% in the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.