Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $10.8214.

A number of research analysts recently commented on AVTR shares. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Avantor in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $9.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $11.00 target price on Avantor in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $10.50 target price on shares of Avantor in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $10.00 price target on Avantor in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Avantor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th.

Insider Activity

In other Avantor news, Director Sanjeev K. Mehra purchased 125,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.01 per share, for a total transaction of $1,001,250.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 475,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,804,750. The trade was a 35.71% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gregory T. Lucier purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $8.32 per share, for a total transaction of $83,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 60,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $499,200. This trade represents a 20.00% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders acquired 210,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,745,950. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avantor

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dodge & Cox increased its stake in Avantor by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 117,746,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,469,481,000 after acquiring an additional 313,404 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Avantor by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,988,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $823,542,000 after acquiring an additional 1,135,279 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its holdings in shares of Avantor by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 34,548,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $431,161,000 after purchasing an additional 3,356,861 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of Avantor in the fourth quarter worth $268,584,000. Finally, Greenhaven Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of Avantor by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 20,500,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,937,000 after purchasing an additional 2,189,083 shares during the period. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Avantor Trading Down 3.8%

Shares of Avantor stock opened at $7.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.04. Avantor has a 1 year low of $7.26 and a 1 year high of $15.93. The company has a market capitalization of $5.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.43, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.94.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. Avantor had a negative net margin of 8.42% and a positive return on equity of 9.95%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.23 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Avantor will post 0.79 EPS for the current year.

Avantor Company Profile

Avantor, Inc (NYSE:AVTR) is a global provider of mission-critical products and services to customers in the biopharma, healthcare, education & government, and advanced technologies & applied materials industries. The company delivers essential solutions that support research, development, production and safety applications. Its product portfolio spans from high-purity chemicals and reagents to biologics and cell culture media, as well as lab equipment, consumables and custom manufacturing services.

Avantor’s offerings are organized across two primary segments.