Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) by 25.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 956,051 shares of the company’s stock after selling 327,188 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC owned approximately 1.77% of Azenta worth $46,311,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Azenta by 16.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,970,964 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,331,000 after purchasing an additional 421,719 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Azenta by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,298,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,917,000 after acquiring an additional 183,040 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Azenta by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 5,298,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $278,783,000 after acquiring an additional 100,826 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its position in shares of Azenta by 433.6% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 73,055 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,844,000 after purchasing an additional 59,364 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its position in shares of Azenta by 618.2% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 58,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,535,000 after purchasing an additional 50,479 shares in the last quarter. 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 Azenta from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target on shares of Azenta in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.40.

Azenta Stock Performance

Shares of AZTA stock traded up $0.40 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $41.49. 113,941 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 490,721. Azenta, Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.24 and a 12 month high of $69.16. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $46.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.09. The company has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.62 and a beta of 1.47.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $173.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $166.14 million. Azenta had a negative net margin of 23.66% and a positive return on equity of 0.89%. Azenta’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% 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 predict that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Azenta

In related news, CFO Herman Cueto sold 1,595 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.68, for a total transaction of $69,669.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,074,702.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.