Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Director Gregory Lucier Purchases 10,000 Shares

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Director Gregory Lucier acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $8.32 per share, with a total value of $83,200.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 60,000 shares in the company, valued at $499,200. This represents a 20.00% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVTR opened at $7.99 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.45 billion, a PE ratio of -9.86, a PEG ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s fifty day moving average is $8.06 and its 200 day moving average is $10.22. Avantor, Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.26 and a 52 week high of $15.93. 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 posted 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. Avantor had a negative net margin of 8.42% and a positive return on equity of 9.95%. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Avantor

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Avantor by 104.3% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 203,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,302,000 after purchasing an additional 104,022 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 40.3% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 17,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 40.2% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 40,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 11,543 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Avantor in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $232,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 214.9% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 124,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,670,000 after buying an additional 84,679 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AVTR shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $10.00 price target on Avantor in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Avantor from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird set a $11.00 target price on shares of Avantor in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Avantor from $11.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Avantor from $8.50 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.39.

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.