Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Shares Gap Up Following Insider Buying Activity

Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) shares gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday following insider buying activity. The stock had previously closed at $40.91, but opened at $44.43. Azenta shares last traded at $44.69, with a volume of 374,250 shares traded.

Specifically, Director William L. Cornog purchased 12,500 shares of Azenta stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $39.60 per share, with a total value of $495,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $584,298. This trade represents a 554.32 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO John Marotta bought 12,717 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $39.48 per share, for a total transaction of $502,067.16. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 99,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,932,681.76. This trade represents a 14.63 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on AZTA. Evercore ISI lowered their price target 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. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on Azenta from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Azenta presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.60.

Azenta Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $45.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.22. The stock has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.03 and a beta of 1.48.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.08. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.03% and a negative net margin of 25.01%. The firm had revenue of $170.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $169.66 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Azenta

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Azenta in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 955 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Azenta during the 1st quarter valued at about $130,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Azenta by 24.7% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,000 after acquiring an additional 471 shares during the period. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.