Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $37.40, but opened at $33.32. Azenta shares last traded at $33.33, with a volume of 205,369 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on AZTA. Weiss Ratings lowered Azenta from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Azenta from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.20.

Azenta Trading Down 9.3%

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a PE ratio of -12.28 and a beta of 1.36. The business’s 50 day moving average is $27.92 and its 200 day moving average is $25.06.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.05. Azenta had a negative net margin of 20.63% and a positive return on equity of 1.18%. The business had revenue of $161.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $149.31 million.

Institutional Trading of Azenta

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its stake in Azenta by 2,067.6% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 802 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 765 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Azenta by 54.1% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 832 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Azenta by 44.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Azenta by 98.0% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 689 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 141.2% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 928 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

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.