Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 21.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,915,556 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 337,675 shares during the quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Azenta were worth $66,355,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Boothbay Fund Management LLC raised its position in Azenta by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC now owns 6,571 shares of the company’s stock worth $329,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Azenta by 305.7% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 706 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Azenta by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 576 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Azenta by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 10,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $535,000 after purchasing an additional 702 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Azenta by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on AZTA. 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. TD Cowen raised Azenta to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th.

Azenta Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AZTA opened at $30.69 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $27.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.16. The stock has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a PE ratio of -10.30 and a beta of 1.62. Azenta, Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.91 and a 1 year high of $63.58.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.04). Azenta had a negative net margin of 24.91% and a positive return on equity of 1.25%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.06 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.53 EPS for the current year.

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.