Man Group plc Invests $9.40 Million in Azenta, Inc. $AZTA

Key Points

• Man Group plc acquired a new $9.4 million stake in Azenta during the second quarter, purchasing 368,419 shares and owning about 0.84% of the company. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively control 99.08% of Azenta’s outstanding shares.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: four analysts rate Azenta a Buy, two recommend Hold, and one recommends Sell. The stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $41.20, while Needham raised its target to $37.
• Azenta exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting earnings of $0.16 per share versus the $0.11 consensus and revenue of $161.18 million versus $149.31 million expected. Shares recently opened at $32.95, compared with a 52-week range of $15.93 to $41.73.

Man Group plc acquired a new stake in shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 368,419 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,402,000. Man Group plc owned approximately 0.84% of Azenta at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Azenta in the second quarter valued at approximately $192,152,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 99,588 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Azenta by 116.1% during the first quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,844,546 shares of the company's stock worth $60,105,000 after acquiring an additional 1,528,145 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Azenta by 9.9% during 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. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Azenta by 1.4% during 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 during the period. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AZTA has been the topic of several research reports. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Azenta from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Azenta from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $41.20.

Azenta Price Performance

Azenta stock opened at $32.95 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.94 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $28.93 and a 200-day moving average of $25.20. Azenta, Inc. has a one year low of $15.93 and a one year high of $41.73.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA - Get Free Report) last released 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. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.18% and a negative net margin of 20.63%.The business had revenue of $161.18 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $149.31 million.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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