Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Reaches New 12-Month Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) shares reached a new 52-week low on Wednesday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $22.00 to $18.00. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Avantor traded as low as $15.37 and last traded at $15.50, with a volume of 9082310 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.87.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 price objective (down from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 price target (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.50.

Insider Transactions at Avantor

In other news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 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 transaction of $86,019.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $711,788.12. The trade was a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $65,877.74. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,531,753.87. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. Dodge & Cox boosted its holdings in Avantor by 44.9% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 99,145,770 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,089,001,000 after purchasing an additional 30,727,673 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its holdings in Avantor by 41.4% during the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 30,528,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $643,227,000 after purchasing an additional 8,936,879 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Avantor by 58.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,368,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $578,666,000 after purchasing an additional 8,206,695 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Avantor during the fourth quarter worth about $142,512,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Avantor by 653.0% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,174,736 shares of the company’s stock worth $159,740,000 after purchasing an additional 5,354,678 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Avantor Trading Up 2.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.99 billion, a PE ratio of 15.52, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.42.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.01. Avantor had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 12.17%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.22 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

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.