Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Raises Holdings in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its position in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 6.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,006,900 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 59,892 shares during the quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s holdings in Azenta were worth $34,879,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Azenta by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $168,000 after acquiring an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC raised its position in shares of Azenta by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC now owns 6,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $329,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Azenta by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,617 shares of the company’s stock worth $437,000 after acquiring an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Azenta by 39.8% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,000 after acquiring an additional 813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Azenta by 788.1% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 859 shares in the last quarter. 99.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Azenta Trading Down 4.6%

Shares of Azenta stock opened at $30.59 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.64 and a beta of 1.59. Azenta, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.91 and a 12-month high of $55.63.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $143.94 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $149.64 million. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.35% and a negative net margin of 18.45%. The firm’s revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.14 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on Azenta from $59.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Raymond James Financial raised Azenta from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Evercore ISI set a $33.00 price target on Azenta and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Stephens started coverage on Azenta in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $35.00 price target for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.75.

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.