Hsbc Holdings PLC Buys New Stake in Azenta, Inc. $AZTA

Key Points

• Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired 44,004 Azenta shares in the second quarter, worth approximately $1.1 million and representing about 0.10% of the company. Institutional investors collectively own 99.08% of Azenta.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: Needham raised its price target to $37 and maintained a Buy rating, while the overall consensus remains Hold with a $41.20 target price.
• Azenta exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting earnings per share of $0.16 versus $0.11 expected and revenue of $161.18 million compared with the $149.31 million consensus estimate.

Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 44,004 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,108,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned approximately 0.10% of Azenta at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Azenta by 2,067.6% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 802 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 765 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of Azenta during the 1st quarter worth about $38,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Azenta by 44.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,242 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in Azenta by 98.0% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,392 shares of the company's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP purchased a new stake in Azenta during the second quarter worth approximately $48,000. 99.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Azenta from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Azenta from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $41.20.

Azenta Stock Performance

Shares of AZTA stock opened at $32.65 on Tuesday. The stock's 50-day moving average is $29.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.18. Azenta, Inc. has a 1 year low of $15.93 and a 1 year high of $41.73. The firm has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.83 and a beta of 1.36.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $161.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $149.31 million. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.18% and a negative net margin of 20.63%.

Azenta 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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