Granahan Investment Management LLC Acquires 194,928 Shares of Azenta, Inc. $AZTA

Granahan Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 1,999.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 204,676 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 194,928 shares during the quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Azenta were worth $6,808,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Azenta by 54.1% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 832 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 385 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its position in Azenta by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its position in Azenta by 6.2% during the third quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 7,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $221,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Azenta by 10.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,482 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,000 after acquiring an additional 618 shares during the period. 99.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Azenta Trading Up 0.8%

AZTA opened at $23.13 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $22.03 and its 200-day moving average is $27.94. Azenta, Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.93 and a 1-year high of $41.73. The company has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.84 and a beta of 1.39.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.16). Azenta had a negative net margin of 30.49% and a positive return on equity of 1.23%. The company had revenue of $144.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $148.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.01 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AZTA shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Azenta from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of Azenta from $44.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Four equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.50.

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.