Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Shares Up 12.1%

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) shot up 12.1% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $25.67 and last traded at $25.57. 2,199,063 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 6,785,116 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.82.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Avantor from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Citigroup lowered Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Avantor from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on Avantor from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.93.

Avantor Stock Up 12.7 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.47 billion, a PE ratio of 65.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.32.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.02. Avantor had a return on equity of 13.01% and a net margin of 3.79%. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avantor

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Avantor by 113.0% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,497,349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,857,000 after purchasing an additional 1,325,026 shares in the last quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Avantor in the fourth quarter valued at $2,842,000. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of Avantor by 84.8% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,165,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,612,000 after purchasing an additional 534,901 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in Avantor by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 628,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,342,000 after buying an additional 104,296 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Avantor by 146.1% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 217,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,961,000 after purchasing an additional 129,010 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.