Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Stock Price Down 4.9%

Shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) dropped 4.9% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $51.52 and last traded at $51.65. Approximately 234,407 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 50% from the average daily volume of 467,464 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.31.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AZTA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $69.00 target price on shares of Azenta in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Azenta from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.00.

Azenta Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average is $55.12 and its 200-day moving average is $57.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.65 and a beta of 1.51.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.09. Azenta had a negative net margin of 23.12% and a positive return on equity of 0.81%. The firm had revenue of $173.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $166.14 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Azenta

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Azenta by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 365,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,809,000 after acquiring an additional 82,502 shares during the last quarter. Otter Creek Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Azenta during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,511,000. Redwood Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Azenta during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,497,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Azenta during the 1st quarter valued at about $615,000. Finally, Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Azenta in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,973,000. 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.