Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) Short Interest Update

Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,800,000 shares, an increase of 19.4% from the November 15th total of 4,020,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 755,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.4 days. Approximately 10.8% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Azenta Stock Down 2.2 %

NASDAQ:AZTA traded down $1.01 on Friday, reaching $44.93. 561,708 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 558,006. The firm has a market cap of $2.05 billion, a PE ratio of -15.13 and a beta of 1.49. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.53. Azenta has a 12 month low of $38.82 and a 12 month high of $69.16.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates 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 was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.13 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Azenta will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on AZTA shares. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of Azenta from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Azenta from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Azenta news, CFO Herman Cueto sold 712 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.07, for a total value of $28,529.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 23,892 shares in the company, valued at $957,352.44. This trade represents a 2.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO John Marotta purchased 12,717 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was purchased 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 owns 99,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,932,681.76. The trade was a 14.63 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,018 shares of company stock worth $126,689. Company insiders own 1.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Azenta

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AZTA. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased 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 worth $156,331,000 after purchasing an additional 421,719 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in 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 in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 100,826 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 433.6% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 73,055 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,844,000 after buying an additional 59,364 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP boosted its stake in Azenta by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 739,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,844,000 after purchasing an additional 53,584 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

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.