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

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Avantor in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $9.00 target price for the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Avantor from $11.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on Avantor from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Avantor in a report on Friday. They set a “market perform” rating and a $10.50 target price on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Avantor to an “underperform” rating and set a $7.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $10.47.

Avantor Stock Performance

NYSE AVTR opened at $10.29 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $8.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.50. Avantor has a 1 year low of $7.26 and a 1 year high of $15.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.03 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.85 and a beta of 0.97.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.23 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Avantor will post 0.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other news, Director Gregory T. Lucier bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was bought at an average price of $8.32 per share, with a total value of $83,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 60,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $499,200. This represents a 20.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Simon Dingemans purchased 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $8.14 per share, for a total transaction of $203,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 25,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,500. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 124.8% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,907,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,617 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in Avantor by 1,333.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 246,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,076,000 after buying an additional 229,293 shares during the period. Greenhaven Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Avantor by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 20,500,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,937,000 after acquiring an additional 2,189,083 shares in the last quarter. London Co. of Virginia acquired a new stake in Avantor in the third quarter valued at approximately $159,669,000. Finally, Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 83.0% during the third quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 285,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,562,000 after acquiring an additional 129,480 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.