Barclays Trims Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Target Price to $25.00

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) had its price target decreased by Barclays from $28.00 to $25.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on AVTR. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Citigroup downgraded Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Avantor from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Avantor in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.79.

Avantor Stock Down 3.6 %

AVTR stock opened at $22.43 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.33. Avantor has a 12 month low of $16.63 and a 12 month high of $28.00. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 25th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Avantor had a net margin of 5.28% and a return on equity of 12.40%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Avantor will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.06, for a total transaction of $88,336.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $740,372.64. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avantor

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AVTR. New York State Teachers Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Avantor in the 3rd quarter valued at $8,473,000. Wilson Asset Management International PTY Ltd. increased its position in shares of Avantor by 18.1% in the third quarter. Wilson Asset Management International PTY Ltd. now owns 757,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,584,000 after acquiring an additional 115,880 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 69.6% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 835 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new position in shares of Avantor during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,043,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Avantor by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 28,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $725,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091 shares during the period. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Avantor

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.