Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA – Get Rating) saw strong growth in short-term interest in August. As of August 31, there was short interest totaling 3,490,000 shares, up 17.5% from the total of 2,970,000 shares as of August 15. Approximately 4.7% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 648,400 shares, the short interest rate is currently 5.4 days.
Insiders place their bets
In other Azenta news, COO Matthew Mcmanus purchased 8,625 shares of the company in a trade on Friday, August 19. The shares were purchased at an average price of $58.15 per share, for a total transaction of $501,543.75. As a result of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 29,467 shares of the company, valued at approximately $1,713,506.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Azenta news, COO Matthew Mcmanus purchased 8,625 shares of the company in a trade on Friday, August 19. The shares were purchased at an average price of $58.15 per share, for a total transaction of $501,543.75. As a result of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 29,467 shares of the company, valued at approximately $1,713,506.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Additionally, Chief Financial Officer Lindon G. Robertson purchased 4,350 shares of the company in a transaction dated Friday, August 19. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $57.62 per share, for a total transaction of $250,647.00. Following the purchase, the CFO now directly owns 100,571 shares of the company, valued at $5,794,901.02. Disclosure of this purchase can be found here. 1.62% of the shares are currently held by insiders.
Institutional entries and exits
Major investors have recently changed their positions in the company. Adalta Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Azenta during the 1st quarter at a value of $414,000. NorthCrest Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Azenta during Q2 worth $880,000. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Azenta during the 2nd quarter at a value of $10,815,000. YorkBridge Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Azenta during Q2 worth $290,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc acquired a new equity stake in Azenta during Q2 worth $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.43% of the company’s shares.
Azenta stock performance
AZTA stock opened at $50.34 on Friday. Azenta has a 1-year minimum of $48.51 and a 1-year maximum of $124.79. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $60.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.25. The company has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.54.
Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA – Get Rating) last reported results on Tuesday, August 9. The company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.12 for the quarter, beating consensus analyst estimates of $0.08 by $0.04. Azenta had a return on equity of 1.47% and a net margin of 391.34%. The company posted revenue of $132.74 million for the quarter, versus analyst estimates of $132.70 million. In the same quarter of the previous year, the company achieved EPS of $0.72. Azenta revenue increased 2.8% year-over-year. On average, research analysts predict that Azenta will post 0.41 earnings per share for the current year.
Wall Street analysts predict growth
AZTA has been the subject of several reports by research analysts. Needham & Company LLC reduced its price target on Azenta from $94.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a Wednesday, August 10 research note. B. Riley reduced his price target on Azenta from $94.00 to $82.00 in a Thursday, July 14 research note. TheStreet downgraded Azenta from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a Thursday, September 1 research note. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced its target price on Azenta to $68.00 in a Monday, August 15 research note.
About Azenta
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Azenta, Inc provides life science sample management and exploration solutions for the life science market in North America, Europe, China, Asia-Pacific and internationally. The Company operates through two reportable segments, Life Science Products and Life Science Services. The Life Science Products segment offers automated cold sample management systems for the storage of compound and biological samples; equipment for sample preparation and handling; consumables; and instruments that help customers manage samples throughout their research, discovery and development workflows.
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