Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 67,809 Shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA - Free Report) by 37.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 113,744 shares of the company's stock after selling 67,809 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.23% of Azenta worth $5,510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AZTA. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Azenta during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,537 shares of the company's stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted 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 valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 955 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Azenta during the 1st quarter valued at $130,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Azenta by 24.7% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.08% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AZTA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on Azenta from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Azenta from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $63.60.

Azenta Trading Up 9.1 %

AZTA stock opened at $44.65 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $45.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.22. Azenta, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.82 and a 1-year high of $69.16. The firm has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a PE ratio of -15.03 and a beta of 1.48.

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $170.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $169.66 million. Azenta had a positive return on equity of 1.03% and a negative net margin of 25.01%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.13 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Azenta, Inc. will post 0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Azenta

In other news, CEO John Marotta purchased 12,717 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $39.48 per share, with a total value of $502,067.16. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 99,612 shares in the company, valued at $3,932,681.76. This trade represents a 14.63 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director William L. Cornog purchased 12,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.77% of the company's stock.

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.