Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Cuts Stock Position in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lessened its stake in shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 56.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 21,975 shares of the company’s stock after selling 28,803 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Azenta were worth $1,064,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Azenta by 16.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,970,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,331,000 after acquiring an additional 421,719 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Azenta by 16.4% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,298,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,917,000 after purchasing an additional 183,040 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Azenta by 1.9% in the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 5,298,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $278,783,000 after purchasing an additional 100,826 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in Azenta by 433.6% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 73,055 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,844,000 after purchasing an additional 59,364 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP grew its holdings in Azenta by 7.8% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 739,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,844,000 after purchasing an additional 53,584 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Azenta

In other Azenta news, Director William L. Cornog bought 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $39.60 per share, for a total transaction of $495,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 14,755 shares in the company, valued at $584,298. This trade represents a 554.32 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO John Marotta purchased 12,717 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $39.48 per share, with a total value of $502,067.16. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 99,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,932,681.76. This represents a 14.63 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.77% of the company’s stock.

Azenta Stock Performance

AZTA opened at $44.65 on Thursday. Azenta, Inc. has a one year low of $38.82 and a one year high of $69.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $45.32 and its 200-day moving average is $50.22. The company has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a PE ratio of -15.03 and a beta of 1.48.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $170.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $169.66 million. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.03% and a negative net margin of 25.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.13 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on Azenta from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Azenta from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Azenta currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.60.

Azenta 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.