Norges Bank Makes New $140.86 Million Investment in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 2,162,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $140,856,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AZTA. Trillium Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC now owns 45,498 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,964,000 after acquiring an additional 3,924 shares during the period. KLR Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Azenta during the 4th quarter valued at about $269,000. Forum Financial Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Azenta during the 4th quarter valued at about $201,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its position in Azenta by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 13,259 shares of the company’s stock worth $864,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Azenta by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,231,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,382,000 after acquiring an additional 530,408 shares during the period. 99.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on AZTA. B. Riley boosted their price objective on shares of Azenta from $61.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Azenta from $64.00 to $60.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Azenta in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. They set a “hold” rating and a $64.00 price objective for the company. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on Azenta from $75.00 to $69.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Azenta in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Azenta currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.40.

Azenta Stock Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ:AZTA opened at $50.27 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a PE ratio of -18.55 and a beta of 1.51. The business’s 50 day moving average is $54.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.44. Azenta, Inc. has a 52 week low of $41.20 and a 52 week high of $69.16.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $159.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $159.89 million. Azenta had a negative net margin of 23.12% and a positive return on equity of 0.81%. Azenta’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.06) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.29 EPS for the current fiscal 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.