Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Shares Gap Up After Insider Buying Activity

Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) shares gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday following insider buying activity. The stock had previously closed at $40.91, but opened at $44.43. Azenta shares last traded at $44.69, with a volume of 374,250 shares changing hands.

Specifically, Director William L. Cornog bought 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $39.60 per share, for a total transaction of $495,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 14,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $584,298. This represents a 554.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO John Marotta acquired 12,717 shares of Azenta stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $39.48 per share, with a total value of $502,067.16. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,932,681.76. The trade was a 14.63 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Azenta Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a PE ratio of -15.03 and a beta of 1.48. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.22.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $170.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $169.66 million. Azenta had a negative net margin of 25.01% and a positive return on equity of 1.03%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Azenta

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Azenta by 16.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,970,964 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,331,000 after buying an additional 421,719 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Azenta by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,298,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,917,000 after purchasing an additional 183,040 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 1.9% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 5,298,040 shares of the company’s stock worth $278,783,000 after purchasing an additional 100,826 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its position in shares of Azenta by 433.6% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 73,055 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,844,000 after purchasing an additional 59,364 shares during the period. Finally, Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in Azenta by 7.8% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 739,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,844,000 after purchasing an additional 53,584 shares during the last quarter. 99.08% of the stock is currently 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.