Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Reaches New 12-Month Low – What’s Next?

Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) hit a new 52-week low on Friday . The company traded as low as $19.87 and last traded at $19.9550, with a volume of 469782 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $21.31.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AZTA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Azenta in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Evercore dropped their target price on Azenta from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Azenta in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. 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 shares of Azenta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.33.

Azenta Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $916.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.74 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a 50 day moving average of $28.70 and a 200 day moving average of $31.43.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.89 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.08 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Azenta announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, December 10th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 14.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Azenta during the 1st quarter worth $435,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in Azenta by 214.8% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 340,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,798,000 after buying an additional 232,405 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Azenta by 10.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $225,000 after buying an additional 618 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Azenta by 17.8% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 201,337 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,974,000 after buying an additional 30,492 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning acquired a new stake in Azenta in the second quarter valued at $270,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

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.