Azenta’s (AZTA) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $44.00 target price on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial raised 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. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Azenta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Azenta from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Evercore cut their target price on shares of Azenta from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Azenta in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.33.

Azenta Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AZTA opened at $22.03 on Tuesday. Azenta has a 52-week low of $20.45 and a 52-week high of $41.73. The company has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.32 and a beta of 1.39. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.94.

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

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Azenta

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of Azenta in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,755,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in shares of Azenta during the fourth quarter worth about $36,803,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Azenta by 41.6% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,698,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,783,000 after acquiring an additional 499,216 shares during the last quarter. Scopia Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Azenta in the third quarter worth approximately $14,026,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Azenta by 192.0% in the second quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 713,939 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,975,000 after acquiring an additional 469,447 shares during the period. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.