Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Grows Stake in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 61.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,000 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,400 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Azenta were worth $1,100,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Azenta by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,686,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,718,000 after buying an additional 6,398 shares during the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Azenta by 65.0% during the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,577,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,894,000 after buying an additional 621,830 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Azenta by 16.4% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,298,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,917,000 after buying an additional 183,040 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP boosted its stake in Azenta by 7.8% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 739,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,844,000 after buying an additional 53,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP boosted its stake in Azenta by 8.7% during the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 434,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,052,000 after buying an additional 34,849 shares during the last quarter. 99.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Azenta Price Performance

NASDAQ:AZTA opened at $45.41 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.24 and a beta of 1.47. Azenta, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.82 and a 1 year high of $67.77. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.31.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.03. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.25% and a negative net margin of 24.91%. As a group, analysts expect that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Azenta in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Azenta from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Azenta from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th.

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.