Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC Sells 151,595 Shares of Azenta, Inc. $AZTA

Key Points

• Conestoga Capital Advisors trimmed its stake in Azenta (NASDAQ: AZTA) by 10.3%, selling 151,595 shares and ending the quarter with 1,316,401 shares (about 2.86% of the company) valued at roughly $43.8 million.
• Other institutions were active too: Vanguard modestly increased its stake to 4,538,946 shares, Millennium Management lifted its holding by 41.6%, and Congress Asset Management and MFS opened new positions of roughly $42.8M and $36.8M respectively, with institutional ownership at about 99.08%.
• Azenta reported quarterly EPS of $0.09 (missing the $0.11 consensus) and revenue of $148.6M (slightly above estimates); the company has a ~$1.13B market cap, a negative net margin, and a MarketBeat consensus rating of "Hold" with an average price target of $41.33.

Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lowered its position in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA - Free Report) by 10.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,316,401 shares of the company's stock after selling 151,595 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC owned 2.86% of Azenta worth $43,783,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Azenta by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,538,946 shares of the company's stock valued at $150,965,000 after acquiring an additional 99,588 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Azenta by 41.6% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,698,562 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,783,000 after acquiring an additional 499,216 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Azenta by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,388,047 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,347,000 after acquiring an additional 99,897 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Azenta in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,755,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in shares of Azenta in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,803,000. Institutional investors own 99.08% of the company's stock.

Azenta Price Performance

AZTA stock opened at $24.57 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $23.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.29. Azenta, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.87 and a fifty-two week high of $41.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of -18.20 and a beta of 1.47.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by ($0.02). Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.43% and a negative net margin of 10.34%.The company had revenue of $148.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.89 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.08 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AZTA shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Azenta from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $44.00 price objective on shares of Azenta in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Azenta from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Azenta in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a "hold" rating on shares of Azenta in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $41.33.

About Azenta

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.

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