Brokerages Set Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) Price Target at $41.33

Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $41.3333.

Several research firms recently commented on AZTA. Evercore cut their price target on Azenta from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Zacks Research raised shares of Azenta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Azenta in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on shares of Azenta in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upped their target price on shares of Azenta from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th.

Azenta Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of NASDAQ AZTA opened at $25.13 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.61 and a beta of 1.39. Azenta has a 12-month low of $23.77 and a 12-month high of $45.26. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $33.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.42.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $148.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 previous year, the firm posted $0.08 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Azenta will post 0.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Azenta

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Azenta by 54.1% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 832 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Azenta by 44.9% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 391 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Azenta by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,000 after buying an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its stake in Azenta by 6.2% during the third quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 7,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $221,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares during the period. 99.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.