Handelsbanken Fonder AB Decreases Holdings in Azenta, Inc. $AZTA

Handelsbanken Fonder AB reduced its position in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 19.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,781 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,300 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Azenta were worth $301,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in Azenta in the first quarter valued at about $505,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Azenta by 31.7% in the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 149,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,566,000 after purchasing an additional 35,874 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Azenta by 44.2% in the 2nd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 417,597 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,854,000 after purchasing an additional 128,084 shares in the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Azenta during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $321,000. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC increased its stake in Azenta by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 807,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,845,000 after purchasing an additional 3,372 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

Azenta Stock Down 2.1%

AZTA stock opened at $35.53 on Monday. Azenta, Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.91 and a 52-week high of $55.63. The firm has a market cap of $1.63 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.68 and a beta of 1.65. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.66.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 21st. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $159.19 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.76 million. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.35% and a negative net margin of 18.45%.Azenta’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.18 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AZTA shares. Evercore ISI set a $33.00 price objective on shares of Azenta and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Azenta from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on Azenta from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.60.

Azenta 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.