Oak Thistle LLC Makes New $927,000 Investment in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 18,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $927,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Azenta by 31.7% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 26,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,380,000 after purchasing an additional 6,318 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Azenta by 118.2% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 5,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 2,815 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Azenta by 66.3% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 69,955 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,681,000 after buying an additional 27,882 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Azenta by 17.5% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $976,000 after buying an additional 2,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Azenta by 16.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,970,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,331,000 after acquiring an additional 421,719 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Azenta

In related news, CEO John Marotta purchased 12,717 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $39.48 per share, for a total transaction of $502,067.16. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 99,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,932,681.76. This represents a 14.63 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director William L. Cornog acquired 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were purchased 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 in the company, valued at $584,298. This represents a 554.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,423 shares of company stock valued at $57,020 in the last quarter. Insiders own 10.62% of the company’s stock.

Azenta Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of AZTA stock opened at $52.30 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.97. The company has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.61 and a beta of 1.47. Azenta, Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.82 and a twelve month high of $69.16.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $170.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $169.66 million. Azenta had a negative net margin of 25.01% and a positive return on equity of 1.03%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Azenta in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Azenta from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Azenta from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.60.

Azenta 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.