Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on Avantor from $8.50 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $10.00 price objective on Avantor in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Zacks Research raised Avantor from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Avantor from $11.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Evercore set a $10.00 price objective on Avantor in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.39.

Avantor Stock Down 0.2%

AVTR stock opened at $8.30 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.32. The company has a market cap of $5.66 billion, a PE ratio of -10.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.94. Avantor has a twelve month low of $7.26 and a twelve month high of $15.93.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $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

In other news, Director Gregory T. Lucier bought 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $9.16 per share, for a total transaction of $458,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $458,000. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sanjeev K. Mehra bought 125,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $8.01 per share, with a total value of $1,001,250.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 475,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,804,750. The trade was a 35.71% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 300,000 shares of company stock worth $2,602,750. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AVTR. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 119.1% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,187 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,189 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 46.2% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 2,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Avantor in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Avantor in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 60.9% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.