Needham & Company LLC Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Stock

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) had its price target upped by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $40.00 to $42.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective points to a potential upside of 13.74% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Azenta in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI set a $33.00 target price on Azenta and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded Azenta from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.60.

Azenta Stock Up 5.8%

AZTA stock traded up $2.04 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $36.93. 163,391 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 699,816. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.26 and a beta of 1.65. Azenta has a twelve month low of $23.91 and a twelve month high of $55.63.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 21st. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $159.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.76 million. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.35% and a negative net margin of 18.45%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.18 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Azenta will post 0.53 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Azenta by 41.6% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,698,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,783,000 after acquiring an additional 499,216 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 35.3% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,345,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,725,000 after purchasing an additional 350,930 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 38.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,064,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,769,000 after purchasing an additional 297,353 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Azenta by 6.3% during the first quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,006,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,879,000 after buying an additional 59,892 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Azenta by 19.7% during the third quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 965,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,740,000 after buying an additional 158,689 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.