Fisher Asset Management LLC Sells 9,481 Shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Fisher Asset Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 1.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 828,174 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,481 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned about 1.69% of Azenta worth $40,117,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AZTA. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position 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 worth $156,331,000 after buying an additional 421,719 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 16.4% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,298,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,917,000 after acquiring an additional 183,040 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Azenta by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 5,298,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $278,783,000 after purchasing an additional 100,826 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in shares of Azenta by 433.6% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 73,055 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,844,000 after purchasing an additional 59,364 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP increased its position in shares of Azenta by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 739,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,844,000 after purchasing an additional 53,584 shares in the last quarter. 99.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Azenta Price Performance

AZTA opened at $45.76 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.41 and a beta of 1.48. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.00. Azenta, Inc. has a one year low of $38.82 and a one year high of $69.16.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $170.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.13 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.4 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Azenta news, CFO Herman Cueto sold 712 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.07, for a total transaction of $28,529.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 23,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $957,352.44. The trade was a 2.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John Marotta purchased 12,717 shares of Azenta stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $39.48 per share, for a total transaction of $502,067.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,612 shares in the company, valued at $3,932,681.76. The trade was a 14.63 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,018 shares of company stock valued at $126,689. 1.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.