Evercore Cuts Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Price Target to $45.00

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) had its target price trimmed by Evercore from $50.00 to $45.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on shares of Azenta from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $44.00 target price on shares of Azenta in a report on Wednesday. Zacks Research upgraded Azenta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Azenta in a research report on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.33.

Azenta Price Performance

NASDAQ AZTA opened at $28.72 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $36.18 and its 200-day moving average is $32.83. Azenta has a one year low of $23.91 and a one year high of $54.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.27 and a beta of 1.35.

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

Azenta declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 10th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 14.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Azenta

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AZTA. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 9,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $326,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its position in Azenta by 482.7% in the fourth quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 57,731 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,920,000 after buying an additional 47,824 shares during the last quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in Azenta by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 58,118 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,933,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Azenta by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,072,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,656,000 after buying an additional 106,177 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in Azenta by 90,073.0% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 170,427 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,668,000 after acquiring an additional 170,238 shares during the last quarter. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.