Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC Has $46.31 Million Stake in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 25.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 956,051 shares of the company’s stock after selling 327,188 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Azenta were worth $46,311,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Azenta by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 5,298,040 shares of the company’s stock worth $278,783,000 after buying an additional 100,826 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position 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 worth $156,331,000 after purchasing an additional 421,719 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Azenta by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,298,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,917,000 after purchasing an additional 183,040 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Azenta by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 515,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,120,000 after acquiring an additional 18,680 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 432,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,758,000 after buying an additional 25,586 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Azenta

In related news, CFO Herman Cueto sold 1,595 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.68, for a total transaction of $69,669.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 24,604 shares in the company, valued at $1,074,702.72. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.77% of the company’s stock.

Azenta Price Performance

Shares of AZTA traded up $0.40 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $41.49. 113,941 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 490,721. The company has a market capitalization of $2.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.62 and a beta of 1.47. Azenta, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.24 and a twelve month high of $69.16. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $46.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.09.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AZTA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 target price on shares of Azenta in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Azenta from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Azenta presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.40.

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.