Fifth Third Bancorp Has $6.04 Million Stock Position in Azenta, Inc. $AZTA

Key Points

• Fifth Third Bancorp dramatically increased its stake in Azenta during the first quarter, buying an additional 284,311 shares and bringing its holding to 285,632 shares valued at about $6.04 million.
• Institutional ownership in Azenta remains very high, with hedge funds and asset managers such as Vanguard, Conestoga Capital, and others continuing to build positions; about 99.08% of the stock is owned by institutions.
• Azenta reported mixed first-quarter results, missing EPS and revenue estimates, while analysts currently rate the stock a Hold on average with a consensus price target of $39.50.

Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA - Free Report) by 21,522.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 285,632 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 284,311 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp owned approximately 0.62% of Azenta worth $6,035,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AZTA. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,538,946 shares of the company's stock valued at $150,965,000 after buying an additional 99,588 shares during the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Azenta by 116.1% in the first quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,844,546 shares of the company's stock valued at $60,105,000 after acquiring an additional 1,528,145 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Azenta by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,866,531 shares of the company's stock worth $62,081,000 after acquiring an additional 167,969 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Azenta by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,732,755 shares of the company's stock worth $57,631,000 after acquiring an additional 24,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Azenta by 37.1% during the 4th quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,550,101 shares of the company's stock worth $51,556,000 after purchasing an additional 419,630 shares during the last quarter. 99.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on AZTA shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Azenta from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on shares of Azenta from $44.00 to $33.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.50.

Azenta Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of Azenta stock opened at $26.78 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.76 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $22.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.35. Azenta, Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.93 and a 12-month high of $41.73.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $144.79 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $148.47 million. Azenta had a negative net margin of 30.49% and a positive return on equity of 1.23%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.01 EPS.

Azenta Company Profile

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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