Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Upgraded by Wolfe Research to “Strong Sell” Rating

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

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 30th. Barclays cut their price objective on Avantor from $8.50 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Evercore set a $10.00 price objective on Avantor in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of Avantor in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Avantor from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Avantor currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $10.57.

Avantor Stock Performance

Shares of Avantor stock opened at $9.10 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $8.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.70. The company has a market capitalization of $6.22 billion, a PE ratio of -11.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Avantor has a 52 week low of $7.26 and a 52 week high of $15.93.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced 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 company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. Avantor had a positive return on equity of 9.95% and a negative net margin of 8.42%.Avantor’s quarterly revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.23 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Avantor will post 0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Sanjeev K. Mehra bought 125,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.01 per share, for a total transaction of $1,001,250.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 475,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,804,750. This represents a 35.71% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Gregory T. Lucier bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $8.32 per share, with a total value of $83,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 60,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $499,200. This trade represents a 20.00% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 160,000 shares of company stock worth $1,287,950. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avantor

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 21.4% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 8,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 1,491 shares during the period. Verus Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avantor during the 1st quarter worth $111,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 24.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,067,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,410,000 after purchasing an additional 1,382,320 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 418,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,278,000 after purchasing an additional 74,728 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ADAR1 Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 14.3% during the 1st quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC now owns 80,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $627,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.