Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 412 Shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Van ECK Associates Corp decreased its position in shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 39.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 636 shares of the company’s stock after selling 412 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Azenta were worth $31,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Azenta by 1.7% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 13,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $813,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Azenta by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in Azenta by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $739,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the period. Green Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Azenta by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Green Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 10,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $494,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in shares of Azenta by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 12,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $629,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AZTA. Needham & Company LLC cut 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. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Azenta from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Herman Cueto sold 1,595 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.68, for a total transaction of $69,669.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,074,702.72. This represents a 6.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.77% of the company’s stock.

Azenta Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AZTA opened at $42.63 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.54. Azenta, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.24 and a fifty-two week high of $69.16. The company has a market capitalization of $2.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.35 and a beta of 1.48.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.08. Azenta had a negative net margin of 25.01% and a positive return on equity of 0.98%. The company had revenue of $170.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $169.66 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.42 earnings per share for the current year.

About Azenta

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.