Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Here’s Why

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $8.88 and last traded at $8.8750, with a volume of 2694586 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $9.03.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVTR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered Avantor from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $12.00 price objective (down from $14.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Avantor from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $10.00 target price on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Avantor from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.83.

Avantor Stock Down 0.7%

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.05. The stock has a market cap of $6.17 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.78.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Avantor had a negative net margin of 8.09% and a positive return on equity of 10.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. Avantor has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.770-0.830 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Avantor

In related news, Director Gregory T. Lucier bought 50,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $9.16 per share, with a total value of $458,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $458,000. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gregory L. Summe purchased 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $9.40 per share, with a total value of $940,000.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 400,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,000. This represents a 33.33% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 500,000 shares of company stock valued at $5,279,500. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AVTR. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Avantor by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 109,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,254,000 after purchasing an additional 19,697 shares in the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. lifted its stake in Avantor by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. now owns 24,992 shares of the company’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 1,971 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Avantor by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,178,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,868,000 after buying an additional 1,125,348 shares in the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Avantor during the fourth quarter worth $12,734,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 93,125 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,067,000 after buying an additional 12,533 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

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.