Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) Shares Sold by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 30,565 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,862 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Azenta worth $1,475,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AZTA. Centiva Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Azenta during the third quarter worth $941,000. Paloma Partners Management Co grew its holdings in Azenta by 38.9% during the 3rd quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 7,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $387,000 after purchasing an additional 2,240 shares in the last quarter. American Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Azenta by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. American Capital Management Inc. now owns 340,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,494,000 after buying an additional 13,033 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in Azenta in the 3rd quarter worth $873,000. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its position in Azenta by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 11,379 shares of the company’s stock valued at $551,000 after buying an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

Azenta Stock Performance

Shares of AZTA stock opened at $44.93 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.13 and a beta of 1.49. Azenta, Inc. has a one year low of $38.82 and a one year high of $69.16. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.52.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.08. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.03% and a negative net margin of 25.01%. The company had revenue of $170.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $169.66 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.13 EPS. Azenta’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.41 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AZTA shares. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on Azenta from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Azenta from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Azenta news, Director William L. Cornog purchased 12,500 shares of Azenta stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $39.60 per share, for a total transaction of $495,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 14,755 shares in the company, valued at $584,298. This represents a 554.32 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Herman Cueto sold 1,595 shares of Azenta stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.68, for a total transaction of $69,669.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,074,702.72. This trade represents a 6.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,018 shares of company stock valued at $126,689 over the last 90 days. 1.77% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Azenta

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.