Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Short Interest Up 8.1% in March

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 27,470,000 shares, a growth of 8.1% from the February 29th total of 25,410,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 5,940,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.6 days.

Insider Transactions at Avantor

In other news, EVP James Bramwell sold 6,203 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total transaction of $151,911.47. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 101,143 shares in the company, valued at $2,476,992.07. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Avantor

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AVTR. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 43.5% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 27,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $916,000 after buying an additional 8,211 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Avantor in the 1st quarter worth $1,318,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 67.9% in the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $645,000 after buying an additional 7,710 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Avantor by 7.9% during the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 8,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its position in shares of Avantor by 28.8% during the first quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 7,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Stock Performance

AVTR stock traded up $0.20 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $25.18. 3,442,210 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,015,917. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. Avantor has a 1-year low of $16.63 and a 1-year high of $26.16. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $24.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.12. The firm has a market cap of $17.08 billion, a PE ratio of 52.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.37.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.03. Avantor had a return on equity of 14.11% and a net margin of 4.61%. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Avantor will post 1.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Avantor in a research report on Wednesday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Avantor from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Avantor from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. TD Cowen upgraded Avantor from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $28.00 in a report on Monday, December 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Avantor from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Avantor has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.14.

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.