Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $25.50.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AVTR. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 target price (down previously from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Barclays lowered their target price on Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $24.00 price target (down from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Monday, February 10th.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In other news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $86,019.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $711,788.12. The trade was a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $65,877.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,531,753.87. This trade represents a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avantor

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its position in Avantor by 34.1% during the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 346,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,972,000 after buying an additional 88,205 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd increased its position in shares of Avantor by 38.7% during the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,766,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,228,000 after buying an additional 493,408 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Avantor during the fourth quarter worth $555,000. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in Avantor by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,922,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,504,000 after buying an additional 33,692 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Avantor by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,027,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,792,000 after acquiring an additional 74,735 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Avantor Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of AVTR opened at $15.15 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $10.32 billion, a PE ratio of 14.56, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.23. Avantor has a 1 year low of $14.93 and a 1 year high of $28.00. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.04.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. Avantor had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 10.49%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Avantor will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avantor Company Profile

Avantor, Inc engages in the provision of mission-critical products and services to customers in the biopharma, healthcare, education and government, advanced technologies, and applied materials industries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The company offers materials and consumables, such as purity chemicals and reagents, lab products and supplies, formulated silicone materials, customized excipients, customized single-use assemblies, process chromatography resins and columns, analytical sample prep kits, education and microbiology products, clinical trial kits, peristaltic pumps, and fluid handling tips.