Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 1.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,298,040 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 100,826 shares during the quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC owned about 9.83% of Azenta worth $278,783,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AZTA. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Azenta by 73.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 113,894 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,993,000 after purchasing an additional 48,194 shares during the period. Bridges Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Azenta during the second quarter worth $276,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its position in Azenta by 150.9% in the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,000 after acquiring an additional 955 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Azenta in the second quarter valued at $609,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd boosted its position in shares of Azenta by 77.5% during the 2nd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 9,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $519,000 after purchasing an additional 4,308 shares in the last quarter. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Azenta from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target on shares of Azenta in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.00.

Azenta Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of AZTA opened at $49.27 on Friday. Azenta, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.00 and a 12-month high of $69.16. The stock has a market cap of $2.66 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.18 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a 50-day moving average of $52.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.01.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $173.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $166.14 million. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 0.89% and a negative net margin of 23.66%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.13 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.