Azenta Inc. (NASDAQ: AZTA) stock fell -0.87% on Tuesday to $43.42 against a previous-day closing price of $43.80. With 0.95 million shares changed hands, the volume of the stock remained lighter than its average volume of 1.2 million shares. During the session, the Medical Instruments & Supplies company that operates in wider Healthcare sector, reached to the highest price of $44.87 whereas the lowest price it dropped to was $43.38. The 52-week range on AZTA shows that it touched its highest point at $78.82 and its lowest point at $36.01 during that stretch. It currently has a 1-year price target of $52.50. With its current market cap of 2.84 billion, AZTA has annualized dividend of $0.40 while the current yield stands at 0.92%. Beta for the stock currently stands at 1.56.
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Price Performance and Earnings:
Stock performance is one of the indicators that investors use to determine whether they will profit from a stock. The price performance of AZTA was up-trending over the past week, with a rise of 9.23%, but this was up by 1.16% over a month. Three-month performance dropped to -2.10% while six-month performance fell -24.59%. The stock lost -37.63% in the past year, while it has lost -25.42% so far this year. A look at the trailing 12-month EPS for AZTA yields -0.34 with Next year EPS estimates of 0.17. For the next quarter, that number is -0.02. This implies an EPS growth rate of 61.30% for this year and 194.83% for next year. EPS is expected to grow by 12.00% annually over the next five years; however, over the past five years, the company experienced an annual growth rate of -24.50%.
Float and Shares Shorts:
At present, 69.11 million AZTA shares are outstanding with a float of 26.36 million shares on hand for trading. On Apr 27, 2023, short shares totaled 7.07 million, which was 10.24% higher than short shares on Mar 30, 2023. In addition to Dr. Stephen S. Schwartz as the firm’s CEO, Pres & Director, Mr. Lindon G. Robertson serves as its Exec. VP & CFO.
Institutional Ownership:
Through their ownership of 108.87% of AZTA’s outstanding shares, institutional investors have majority control over the company. Other institutions hold 53.22% of AZTA, in contrast to 48.26% held by mutual funds. Shares owned by individuals account for 18.21%. As the largest shareholder in AZTA with 10.27% of the stake, The Vanguard Group, Inc. holds 7,094,652 shares worth 7,094,652. A second-largest stockholder of AZTA, BlackRock Fund Advisors, holds 5,573,493 shares, controlling over 8.07% of the firm’s shares. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment is the third largest shareholder in AZTA, holding 4,438,800 shares or 6.42% stake. With a 3.12% stake in AZTA, the iShares Core S&P Mid Cap ETF is the largest stakeholder. A total of 2,156,374 shares are owned by the mutual fund manager. The Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF, which owns about 3.10% of AZTA stock, is the second-largest Mutual Fund holder. It holds 2,139,566 shares valued at 93.05 million. Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund holds 2.62% of the stake in AZTA, owning 1,808,375 shares worth 78.65 million.
An Overview of Recent Financials:
Understanding a company as a customer does not mean you will understand it as an investor. The wise investor uses quantitative research to analyze metrics such as revenue, net income, and earnings. In its fiscal quarter reported on Mar 30, 2023, AZTA reported revenue of $132.74M and operating income of -$5.05M. The EBITDA in the recently reported quarter was $15.21M and diluted EPS was -$0.13.
Analysts Ratings:
Reading analyst opinions is an effective way to decide where to invest, and there are several opinions available for AZTA since 0 analysts follow the stock currently. In the same way, a target price assigned to a stock can also reveal much about its potential. With AZTA analysts setting a high price target of $68.00 and a low target of $42.00, the average target price over the next 12 months is $52.50. Based on these targets, AZTA could surge 56.61% to reach the target high and fall by -3.27% to reach the target low. Reaching the average price target will result in a growth of 20.91% from current levels.
EPS: Estimates vs Actual
It is also common to use earnings estimates to evaluate a firm’s growth potential and to determine trading strategy.
Dividends & Yield:
In terms of dividends, AZTA has a dividend of $0.37 is likely to be paid on average over the next five years. Dividend yield is another indicator that appeals to many investors, and AZTA currently yields $0.17. In the past year, AZTA’s dividend yield has been $0.17, but when looking at the stock over the past five years, its yield has been $0.78. Accordingly, AZTA has a current buyback yield of $17.61. This was $17.61 for the TTM.
Summary of Insider Activity:
Insiders traded AZTA stock several times over the past three months with 0 Buys and 0 Sells. In these transactions, 0 shares were bought while 0 shares were sold. The number of buy transactions has increased to 35 while that of sell transactions has risen to 8 over the past year. The total number of shares bought during that period was 196,950 while 53,327 shares were sold.
