Systematic Financial Management LP Increases Stock Position in Azenta, Inc. $AZTA

Systematic Financial Management LP boosted its holdings in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 25.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 557,678 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 111,447 shares during the quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP owned 1.21% of Azenta worth $11,784,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AZTA. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Azenta by 116.1% in the 1st quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,844,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,528,145 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in shares of Azenta during the fourth quarter valued at $36,803,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Azenta by 41.6% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,698,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,783,000 after buying an additional 499,216 shares during the last quarter. Scopia Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Azenta during the third quarter valued at $14,026,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Azenta by 192.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 713,939 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,975,000 after buying an additional 469,447 shares in the last quarter. 99.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AZTA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised Azenta from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of Azenta from $44.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.40.

Azenta Trading Down 3.3%

Shares of AZTA opened at $27.37 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.12. The firm has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a PE ratio of -6.91 and a beta of 1.37. Azenta, Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.93 and a 1-year high of $41.73.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.16). Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.23% and a negative net margin of 30.49%.The firm had revenue of $144.79 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $148.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.01 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis.

Azenta 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.