Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) Receives $41.83 Average Target Price from Analysts

Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $41.8333.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AZTA. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Azenta from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on Azenta from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Azenta in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Azenta in a research report on Monday, December 22nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Azenta

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mechanics Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Azenta by 77.6% in the 2nd quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp now owns 870 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Azenta by 249.5% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 726 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Azenta by 41.6% in the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,371 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in Azenta by 113.5% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

Azenta Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AZTA opened at $38.50 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.15. The company has a market cap of $1.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.62 and a beta of 1.32. Azenta has a one year low of $23.91 and a one year high of $55.63.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last issued 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 company had revenue of $159.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.76 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.18 earnings per share. Azenta’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Azenta will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Azenta Company 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.