Stephens Investment Management Group LLC Purchases 106,177 Shares of Azenta, Inc. $AZTA

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 11.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,072,039 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 106,177 shares during the quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC’s holdings in Azenta were worth $35,656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Azenta by 54.1% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Azenta by 44.9% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Azenta by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its position in shares of Azenta by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 7,695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Azenta by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $225,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares during the period. 99.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Azenta Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AZTA opened at $16.02 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $738.36 million, a P/E ratio of -4.05 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $22.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.46. Azenta, Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.95 and a 52-week high of $41.73.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.16). Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.23% and a negative net margin of 30.49%.The business had revenue of $144.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $148.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.01 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Azenta from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Azenta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Azenta from $44.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Azenta from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Azenta in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.50.

Azenta Company Profile

Azenta, Inc (NASDAQ: AZTA) is a life sciences technology company specializing in sample management, cryogenic storage and genomic services for research and clinical applications. Formerly the Life Sciences division of Brooks Automation, Azenta provides integrated solutions that enable customers to store, track and analyze biological samples with high levels of automation, data integrity and efficiency. Its offerings span automated storage systems, biorepository management software and end‐to‐end sample tracking workflows.

In addition to hardware and informatics platforms for sample storage, Azenta’s Genomics business delivers next‐generation sequencing (NGS), DNA synthesis, and molecular biology services.