Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Reaches New 52-Week Low – Here’s What Happened

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low on Thursday . The company traded as low as $17.14 and last traded at $17.73, with a volume of 7219151 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $17.35.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AVTR. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 price objective (down from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Monday, February 10th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 price target (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.92.

Avantor Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $12.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $21.16 and a 200 day moving average of $23.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period last year, the business posted $0.22 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dodge & Cox lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 44.9% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 99,145,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,089,001,000 after purchasing an additional 30,727,673 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 41.4% in the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 30,528,092 shares of the company’s stock valued at $643,227,000 after purchasing an additional 8,936,879 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 58.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,368,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $578,666,000 after purchasing an additional 8,206,695 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Avantor in the 4th quarter valued at $142,512,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 653.0% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,174,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,740,000 after purchasing an additional 5,354,678 shares during the period. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Avantor

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.