Needham & Company LLC Cuts Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Price Target to $33.00

Key Points

• Needham cut its price target on Azenta from $44 to $33 but kept a buy rating, with the new target implying roughly a 79.5% upside from the prior close.
• Shares fell to $18.38 on heavy volume after Azenta missed estimates, reporting EPS of ($0.04) versus $0.10 expected and revenue of $144.8M versus $148.3M, leaving the company with a negative net margin.
• Analyst views are mixed—four Buys, three Holds and one Sell—with a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.50.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA - Get Free Report) had its price objective lowered by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC from $44.00 to $33.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC's target price suggests a potential upside of 79.54% from the company's previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Evercore cut their target price on Azenta from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. TD Cowen restated a "hold" rating on shares of Azenta in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Azenta from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Azenta from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Azenta from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (e+)" rating in a research report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.50.

Azenta Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AZTA traded down $6.23 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $18.38. 7,010,143 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 918,095. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $23.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.23. The firm has a market cap of $846.58 million, a P/E ratio of -13.61 and a beta of 1.43. Azenta has a twelve month low of $17.11 and a twelve month high of $41.73.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $144.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $148.30 million. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.43% and a negative net margin of 10.34%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.01 earnings per share.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Azenta by 2,067.6% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 802 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 765 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Azenta by 54.1% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 832 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Azenta by 249.5% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,017 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 726 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Azenta by 44.9% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,242 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Azenta by 98.0% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,392 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 689 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.08% of the company's stock.

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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