Natixis Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Natixis Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 4.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 378,450 shares of the company’s stock after selling 18,668 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Azenta were worth $18,332,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Azenta during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Azenta by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its position in shares of Azenta by 150.9% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 955 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Azenta during the 1st quarter worth about $130,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Azenta by 24.7% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of Azenta from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Evercore ISI decreased 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Herman Cueto sold 1,595 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 $1,074,702.72. This trade represents a 6.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO John Marotta acquired 12,717 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $3,932,681.76. The trade was a 14.63 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Azenta Stock Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ AZTA opened at $40.91 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a PE ratio of -13.77 and a beta of 1.48. Azenta, Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.82 and a 12-month high of $69.16. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $45.34 and its 200-day moving average is $50.26.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 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 the consensus estimate of $169.66 million. Azenta had a negative net margin of 25.01% and a positive return on equity of 1.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.4 EPS 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.