Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC Sells 450,370 Shares of Azenta, Inc. $AZTA

Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 23.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,467,996 shares of the company’s stock after selling 450,370 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC owned about 3.20% of Azenta worth $42,161,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AZTA. Mechanics Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Azenta by 77.6% during the second quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp now owns 870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 44.9% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 41.6% during 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 during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Azenta by 113.5% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 1,009 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of Azenta by 29.1% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AZTA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Azenta in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Raymond James Financial raised their price target on Azenta from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Azenta in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI set a $50.00 target price on Azenta in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.83.

Azenta Price Performance

NASDAQ:AZTA opened at $37.92 on Monday. Azenta, Inc. has a one year low of $23.91 and a one year high of $55.63. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $33.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.17 and a beta of 1.32.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 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 analyst estimates of $156.76 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.18 earnings per share. Azenta’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Azenta declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 10th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 14.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Azenta Profile

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.