Stephens Investment Management Group LLC Trims Holdings in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 6.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 798,244 shares of the company’s stock after selling 50,765 shares during the quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC’s holdings in Azenta were worth $38,667,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AZTA. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Azenta by 16.5% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 183,040 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 1.9% in the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 5,298,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $278,783,000 after purchasing an additional 100,826 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its stake in Azenta by 433.6% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 73,055 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,844,000 after purchasing an additional 59,364 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its holdings in Azenta by 618.2% during the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 58,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,535,000 after purchasing an additional 50,479 shares during the period. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AZTA shares. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on 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 reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $69.00 price objective on shares of Azenta in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.40.

Azenta Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AZTA opened at $41.09 on Friday. Azenta, Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.24 and a 12-month high of $69.16. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.09.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $173.00 million for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Herman Cueto sold 1,595 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 24,604 shares in the company, valued at $1,074,702.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.77% of the company’s stock.

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.