Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Stock Rating Upgraded by Sanford C. Bernstein

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) was upgraded by analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on AVTR. Wall Street Zen raised Avantor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Wolfe Research lowered Avantor to an “underperform” rating and set a $7.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Citigroup reduced their target price on Avantor from $11.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Avantor in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $9.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Avantor from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Avantor presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $10.47.

Avantor Stock Up 2.1%

AVTR stock opened at $10.29 on Thursday. Avantor has a twelve month low of $7.26 and a twelve month high of $15.93. The company has a market cap of $7.03 billion, a PE ratio of -12.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.85 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.50. 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 (NYSE:AVTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. Avantor had a positive return on equity of 9.95% and a negative net margin of 8.42%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.23 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Avantor will post 0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In related news, Director Simon Dingemans bought 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.14 per share, for a total transaction of $203,500.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 25,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,500. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Gregory T. Lucier purchased 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $8.32 per share, for a total transaction of $83,200.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 60,000 shares in the company, valued at $499,200. This represents a 20.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AVTR. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Avantor in the 4th quarter valued at $268,584,000. London Co. of Virginia acquired a new stake in shares of Avantor during the 3rd quarter worth about $159,669,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Avantor by 179.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,468,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $200,188,000 after purchasing an additional 11,216,565 shares during the last quarter. Engine Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Avantor by 65.8% during the 1st quarter. Engine Capital Management LP now owns 19,780,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,082,000 after purchasing an additional 7,853,018 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Avantor during the 4th quarter valued at about $73,322,000. 95.08% of the stock is owned by 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.