AlphaQuest LLC Decreases Stake in Azenta, Inc. $AZTA

AlphaQuest LLC lessened its position in shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 91.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,240 shares of the company’s stock after selling 47,738 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Azenta were worth $122,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Azenta by 44.9% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Azenta by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,000 after buying an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in Azenta by 29.1% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Azenta by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,482 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,000 after acquiring an additional 618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its holdings in shares of Azenta by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 11,754 shares of the company’s stock valued at $362,000 after acquiring an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AZTA shares. Evercore decreased their target price on Azenta from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $44.00 target price on shares of Azenta in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on shares of Azenta from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Azenta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Azenta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Azenta currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.33.

Azenta Stock Performance

AZTA stock opened at $28.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a PE ratio of -21.20 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.60 and a 200-day moving average of $32.67. Azenta, Inc. has a one year low of $23.91 and a one year high of $47.55.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $148.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.89 million. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.43% and a negative net margin of 10.34%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.08 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

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.