Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) Short Interest Up 19.4% in November

Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) was the target of a large increase in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,800,000 shares, an increase of 19.4% from the November 15th total of 4,020,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 755,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.4 days. Currently, 10.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Azenta

In other Azenta news, CFO Herman Cueto sold 712 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.07, for a total transaction of $28,529.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 23,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $957,352.44. This trade represents a 2.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director William L. Cornog acquired 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $39.60 per share, with a total value of $495,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 14,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $584,298. This represents a 554.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,018 shares of company stock valued at $126,689 in the last three months. 1.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Azenta

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Azenta by 20.0% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Azenta by 2.0% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $739,000 after buying an additional 269 shares during the period. Green Alpha Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Azenta by 3.5% during the third quarter. Green Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 10,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $494,000 after buying an additional 348 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Azenta by 6.6% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Azenta by 3.2% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 12,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $629,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Azenta Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of AZTA opened at $44.93 on Monday. Azenta has a 52-week low of $38.82 and a 52-week high of $69.16. The company has a market cap of $2.05 billion, a PE ratio of -15.13 and a beta of 1.49. The business has a fifty day moving average of $44.53 and a 200 day moving average of $49.52.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.08. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.03% and a negative net margin of 25.01%. The business had revenue of $170.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $169.66 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Azenta will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AZTA shares. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Azenta from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Azenta from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.60.

About Azenta

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.