Needham & Company LLC Reiterates Buy Rating for Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA - Free Report) in a research note released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $75.00 target price on the stock.

AZTA has been the subject of several other reports. B. Riley upped their price target on Azenta from $61.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Stephens reiterated an equal weight rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Azenta in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Azenta from $64.00 to $60.00 and set an in-line rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Azenta in a report on Thursday, April 4th. They set a hold rating and a $64.00 price target on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Azenta currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $69.60.

Azenta Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AZTA traded up $1.09 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $57.81. 490,798 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 429,084. Azenta has a 1 year low of $36.01 and a 1 year high of $69.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -182.96 and a beta of 1.53. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $62.84 and a 200 day moving average of $58.75.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter. Azenta had a negative net margin of 2.92% and a positive return on equity of 0.49%. The firm had revenue of $154.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $151.86 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Azenta will post 0.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Azenta

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Azenta by 1.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,070,612 shares of the company's stock valued at $303,047,000 after buying an additional 127,923 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its position in Azenta by 0.8% during the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,531,739 shares of the company's stock valued at $227,448,000 after acquiring an additional 38,116 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Azenta by 115.1% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,018,907 shares of the company's stock valued at $134,703,000 after acquiring an additional 1,615,328 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Azenta by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,231,792 shares of the company's stock valued at $145,382,000 after acquiring an additional 530,408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. purchased a new position in Azenta during the second quarter valued at approximately $160,068,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.08% of the company's stock.

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.