Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Price Target Cut to $45.00 by Analysts at Evercore ISI

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) had its target price reduced by equities research analysts at Evercore ISI from $50.00 to $45.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 59.21% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on AZTA. Wall Street Zen upgraded Azenta from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 3rd. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Azenta in a report on Wednesday. Zacks Research upgraded Azenta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Azenta from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.33.

Azenta Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of AZTA traded down $0.23 on Thursday, hitting $28.26. 253,024 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 710,165. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $36.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.30 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.88 and a beta of 1.35. Azenta has a 1 year low of $23.91 and a 1 year high of $55.63.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by ($0.02). Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.40% and a negative net margin of 10.01%.The business had revenue of $148.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.89 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.08 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Azenta will post 0.53 EPS for the current year.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Azenta by 54.1% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 292 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its position in Azenta by 44.9% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Azenta by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Azenta by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Azenta by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 7,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $221,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. 99.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Azenta

Here are the key news stories impacting Azenta this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Needham reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 price target (≈53% upside from recent levels), signaling continued analyst conviction. Needham Reaffirmation
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies trimmed its price target from $42 to $40 but kept a “buy” rating — a sign analysts still see substantial upside despite the modest cut. Jefferies Price Target Update
• Positive Sentiment: Top-line slightly beat expectations: revenue was $148.64M vs. consensus $146.89M (+0.8% YoY), which investors often view as a stabilizing sign for growth. Azenta Slide Deck
• Neutral Sentiment: Q1 earnings call transcript is available for detail on management’s commentary and outlook (useful for gauging guidance and customer trends). Earnings Call Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: The company also published its Q1 results slide presentation for deeper metrics and segment detail. Q1 Results Presentation
• Neutral Sentiment: Official press release with the quarter’s full financials is posted by PR Newswire for reference. PR Newswire Release
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short-interest data appears to show zero shares short (likely a reporting anomaly); no meaningful short-squeeze signal from this data. (February 3 data).
• Negative Sentiment: Bottom-line missed: EPS $0.09 vs. $0.11 expected (miss of $0.02); Azenta still shows a negative net margin (~-10.0%) despite a small positive ROE — these profitability issues are a clear near-term headwind. Earnings Summary / MarketBeat

About Azenta

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.