Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Upgraded to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Azenta in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Azenta from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Zacks Research cut shares of Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on Azenta from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Azenta currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.00.

Azenta Stock Performance

NASDAQ AZTA opened at $33.39 on Friday. Azenta has a twelve month low of $23.91 and a twelve month high of $55.63. The stock has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a PE ratio of -25.68 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.78.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 21st. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.01. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.40% and a negative net margin of 10.01%.The firm had revenue of $159.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.76 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.18 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Azenta 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 buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 14.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Azenta

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State of Wyoming lifted its position in Azenta by 77.1% during the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,343 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 1,020 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Azenta in the first quarter valued at approximately $435,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Azenta by 214.8% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 340,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,798,000 after purchasing an additional 232,405 shares during the last quarter. Park West Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Azenta by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Park West Asset Management LLC now owns 331,743 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,492,000 after buying an additional 31,743 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in Azenta in the 1st quarter valued at $505,000. 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.