Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Makes New $47.35 Million Investment in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new stake in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 947,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,350,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AZTA. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its holdings in Azenta by 305.7% in the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 706 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Azenta during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Azenta by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 799 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Azenta by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,000 after acquiring an additional 698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Azenta by 39.8% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,000 after acquiring an additional 813 shares during the last quarter. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AZTA shares. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Azenta from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Azenta from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. TD Cowen upgraded Azenta to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Azenta in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd.

Azenta Stock Down 1.5 %

AZTA stock opened at $26.73 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a PE ratio of -8.97 and a beta of 1.66. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.26. Azenta, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.06 and a fifty-two week high of $63.58.

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

Azenta Company Profile

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.