Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Upgraded at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) to a strong sell rating in a report published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

AVTR has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Evercore set a $10.00 price objective on shares of Avantor in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $8.00 target price on shares of Avantor in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $10.50 target price on shares of Avantor in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays lowered their price target on Avantor from $8.50 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Avantor in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $9.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $10.57.

Avantor Price Performance

AVTR stock opened at $9.10 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Avantor has a one year low of $7.26 and a one year high of $15.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.22 billion, a PE ratio of -11.24, a P/E/G ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $8.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.70.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In related news, Director Simon Dingemans acquired 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $8.14 per share, for a total transaction of $203,500.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at $203,500. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Gregory T. Lucier bought 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was bought at an average price of $8.32 per share, with a total value of $83,200.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 60,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $499,200. This represents a 20.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have purchased 160,000 shares of company stock worth $1,287,950. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Avantor

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AVTR. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 124.8% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,907,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,617 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 1,333.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 246,494 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,076,000 after buying an additional 229,293 shares in the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 2,189,083 shares during the last quarter. London Co. of Virginia acquired a new position in Avantor in the third quarter worth approximately $159,669,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Avantor by 0.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 16,053,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $200,346,000 after acquiring an additional 119,508 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Avantor

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.