Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 7,129 Shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its position in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 59,421 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,129 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Azenta were worth $2,878,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its position in shares of Azenta by 72.2% in the third quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 31,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,502,000 after purchasing an additional 13,000 shares during the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd bought a new stake in Azenta during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $686,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Azenta by 66.3% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 69,955 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,681,000 after buying an additional 27,882 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP increased its position in Azenta by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 739,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,844,000 after buying an additional 53,584 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Azenta during the second quarter worth approximately $222,000. Institutional investors own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AZTA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Azenta from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Stephens upgraded shares of Azenta from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Azenta from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.60.

Insider Activity at Azenta

In other Azenta news, CFO Herman Cueto sold 712 shares of Azenta stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.07, for a total transaction of $28,529.84. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 23,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $957,352.44. The trade was a 2.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director William L. Cornog acquired 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $39.60 per share, for a total transaction of $495,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 14,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $584,298. This trade represents a 554.32 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,018 shares of company stock valued at $126,689 over the last quarter. 1.77% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Azenta Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ AZTA opened at $50.43 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.98 and a beta of 1.49. Azenta, Inc. has a one year low of $38.82 and a one year high of $69.16. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.45.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $170.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $169.66 million. Azenta had a negative net margin of 25.01% and a positive return on equity of 1.03%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.13 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.