Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Buy Rating for Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $69.00 price objective on the stock.

Separately, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Azenta from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Azenta currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $67.00.

Azenta Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of AZTA stock traded down $0.62 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $55.27. 578,253 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 469,386. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.37. Azenta has a 1-year low of $44.00 and a 1-year high of $69.16. The company has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.39 and a beta of 1.51.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.09. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 0.81% and a negative net margin of 23.12%. The firm had revenue of $173.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $166.14 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Azenta will post 0.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Azenta

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Azenta by 1.6% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 12,181 shares of the company’s stock worth $734,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Azenta by 1.7% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 13,488 shares of the company’s stock worth $813,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in Azenta by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 75,339 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,908,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Azenta by 35.6% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 883 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in Azenta by 2.0% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $739,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares in the last quarter. 99.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Azenta Company Profile

Azenta, Inc provides biological and chemical compound sample exploration and management solutions for the life sciences market in North America, Africa, China, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company operates in two reportable segments, Life Sciences Products and Life Sciences Services.