Analysts Set Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) PT at $25.50

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $25.50.

AVTR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 target price (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVTR opened at $15.83 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $19.62 and its 200-day moving average is $22.12. Avantor has a twelve month low of $15.37 and a twelve month high of $28.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.22, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. Avantor had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 12.17%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.22 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Avantor will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $86,019.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $711,788.12. This trade represents a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $65,877.74. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 87,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,531,753.87. This trade represents a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Avantor

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH bought a new stake in Avantor during the 4th quarter valued at about $426,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Avantor in the fourth quarter worth $5,712,000. American Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. American Trust now owns 15,198 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 658 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 33.0% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 43,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $914,000 after buying an additional 10,764 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP bought a new stake in Avantor in the 4th quarter worth about $417,000. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.