First Eagle Investment Management LLC Buys Shares of 97,500 Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 97,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,875,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Azenta in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,331,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Azenta during the fourth quarter worth $910,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 461,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,080,000 after purchasing an additional 48,064 shares during the period. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 111,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,591,000 after purchasing an additional 32,032 shares during the period. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 10,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $535,000 after purchasing an additional 702 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.08% of the company’s stock.

Azenta Stock Up 0.7 %

AZTA stock opened at $36.80 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.35 and a beta of 1.52. Azenta, Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.90 and a 12-month high of $63.58. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.05.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.03. Azenta had a negative net margin of 24.91% and a positive return on equity of 1.25%. Research analysts expect that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AZTA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Azenta in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Azenta from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Azenta from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Azenta to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.75.

Azenta 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.