Park Avenue Securities LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 1.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,181 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Azenta were worth $734,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in Azenta by 29.2% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 365,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,809,000 after purchasing an additional 82,502 shares during the last quarter. Otter Creek Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Azenta during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,511,000. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in shares of Azenta by 558.8% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 88,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,421,000 after buying an additional 74,708 shares in the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Azenta in the fourth quarter worth $1,973,000. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in Azenta in the third quarter valued at $860,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AZTA. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of Azenta from $75.00 to $69.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Azenta from $64.00 to $60.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Azenta in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $64.00 target price for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.40.

Azenta Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ AZTA opened at $52.10 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.23 and a beta of 1.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $52.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.23. Azenta, Inc. has a 52-week low of $43.43 and a 52-week high of $69.16.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.03. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 0.81% and a negative net margin of 23.12%. The business had revenue of $159.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $159.89 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.06) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Azenta 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.