Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on shares of Azenta from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Azenta from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Azenta in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.00.

Azenta Stock Up 0.4%

NASDAQ:AZTA opened at $33.39 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a PE ratio of -25.68 and a beta of 1.32. The business’s 50 day moving average is $33.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.76. Azenta has a 52 week low of $23.91 and a 52 week high of $55.63.

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

Azenta declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 10th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 14.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Azenta by 41.6% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,698,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,783,000 after purchasing an additional 499,216 shares in the last quarter. Scopia Capital Management LP bought a new position in Azenta in the 3rd quarter valued at about $14,026,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in Azenta by 192.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 713,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,975,000 after buying an additional 469,447 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Azenta by 35.3% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,345,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,725,000 after buying an additional 350,930 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Azenta by 38.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,064,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,769,000 after buying an additional 297,353 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.