Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Shares Down 13.4% – Here’s What Happened

Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)’s share price traded down 13.4% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $25.75 and last traded at $25.63. 188,316 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 626,836 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.61.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AZTA. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Azenta from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Azenta in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. TD Cowen upgraded Azenta to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Azenta from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th.

Azenta Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.91 and a beta of 1.66. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $40.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.05.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.03. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.25% and a negative net margin of 24.91%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Azenta

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Azenta by 31.3% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 8,526 shares of the company’s stock valued at $413,000 after purchasing an additional 2,033 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in Azenta by 6.5% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 59,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,870,000 after acquiring an additional 3,601 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Azenta by 0.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,686,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,718,000 after acquiring an additional 6,398 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Azenta in the third quarter valued at about $352,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Azenta by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 84,804 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,326,000 after acquiring an additional 4,606 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

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.