Azenta, Inc. $AZTA Shares Purchased by Nordea Investment Management AB

Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 80.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 268,597 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 119,397 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB owned 0.59% of Azenta worth $7,538,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AZTA. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Azenta by 44.2% in the 2nd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 417,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,854,000 after purchasing an additional 128,084 shares during the period. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Azenta during the second quarter worth approximately $128,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Azenta by 0.4% in the second quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 807,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,845,000 after buying an additional 3,372 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Azenta in the third quarter valued at approximately $794,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 38.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,064,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,769,000 after acquiring an additional 297,353 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

Azenta Stock Performance

Shares of Azenta stock opened at $40.00 on Friday. Azenta, Inc. has a one year low of $23.91 and a one year high of $55.63. The company has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.77 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $34.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.32.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 21st. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $159.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.76 million. Azenta had a negative net margin of 10.01% and a positive return on equity of 1.40%. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.18 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Azenta announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 10th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 14.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AZTA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Azenta from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Azenta in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on shares of Azenta from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Azenta has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.83.

Azenta Company Profile

Azenta, Inc (NASDAQ: AZTA) is a life sciences technology company specializing in sample management, cryogenic storage and genomic services for research and clinical applications. Formerly the Life Sciences division of Brooks Automation, Azenta provides integrated solutions that enable customers to store, track and analyze biological samples with high levels of automation, data integrity and efficiency. Its offerings span automated storage systems, biorepository management software and end‐to‐end sample tracking workflows.

In addition to hardware and informatics platforms for sample storage, Azenta’s Genomics business delivers next‐generation sequencing (NGS), DNA synthesis, and molecular biology services.