Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,340,000 shares, a decline of 9.8% from the October 15th total of 4,810,000 shares. Currently, 9.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 552,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.9 days.

Azenta Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of Azenta stock opened at $41.51 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a PE ratio of -13.98 and a beta of 1.48. Azenta has a 12 month low of $40.24 and a 12 month high of $69.16. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.43.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $170.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $169.66 million. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.03% and a negative net margin of 25.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.13 EPS. Analysts expect that Azenta will post 0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Herman Cueto sold 1,595 shares of Azenta stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.68, for a total transaction of $69,669.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,074,702.72. The trade was a 6.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Azenta

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AZTA. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Azenta by 1.9% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 5,298,040 shares of the company’s stock worth $278,783,000 after acquiring an additional 100,826 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 16.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,970,964 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,331,000 after buying an additional 421,719 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Azenta by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,686,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,718,000 after buying an additional 6,398 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Azenta by 16.4% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,298,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,917,000 after buying an additional 183,040 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP raised its position in Azenta by 7.8% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 739,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,844,000 after acquiring an additional 53,584 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on AZTA. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on Azenta from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Azenta from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.60.

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.