Jefferies Financial Group Cuts Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Price Target to $40.00

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) had its price target lowered by Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $40.00 in a research note released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock.

AZTA has been the subject of several other research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Azenta in a report on Monday, December 22nd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Azenta in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Evercore set a $50.00 target price on Azenta in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $44.00 price target on shares of Azenta in a report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Azenta has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.33.

Azenta Stock Up 3.1%

NASDAQ AZTA opened at $28.72 on Wednesday. Azenta has a 52 week low of $23.91 and a 52 week high of $54.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.27 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a fifty day moving average of $36.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.83.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $148.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.89 million. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.43% and a negative net margin of 10.34%.Azenta’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.08 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Azenta will post 0.53 EPS for the current year.

Azenta declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 10th that permits the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 14.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Azenta

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in Azenta by 54.1% during 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. lifted its position in shares of Azenta by 44.9% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Azenta by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Azenta by 12.7% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,000 after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its stake in Azenta by 6.2% in the third quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 7,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $221,000 after buying an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. 99.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.