Legal & General Group Plc Raises Holdings in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 17.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 408,484 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 60,817 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Azenta were worth $20,424,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Azenta by 65.0% during the 4th quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,577,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,894,000 after purchasing an additional 621,830 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Azenta during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,403,000. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in Azenta by 46.7% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,405,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,183,000 after buying an additional 447,292 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Azenta by 65.9% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 762,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,109,000 after acquiring an additional 302,786 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in shares of Azenta in the 4th quarter valued at $14,405,000. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Azenta Price Performance

NASDAQ:AZTA opened at $26.71 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $39.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.72. The stock has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.96 and a beta of 1.66. Azenta, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.36 and a 1-year high of $63.58.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.08 EPS 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

About Azenta

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.