Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Price Target Lowered to $15.00 at Barclays

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) had its target price trimmed by Barclays from $18.00 to $15.00 in a research report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Cowen cut shares of Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $26.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Monday. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price target (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Avantor from $21.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.32.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of Avantor stock opened at $12.49 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24. Avantor has a 1-year low of $12.20 and a 1-year high of $28.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $15.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.64.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.23. Avantor had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 12.17%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.22 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Avantor will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $86,019.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,788.12. The trade was a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $65,877.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,531,753.87. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in Avantor in the third quarter valued at about $2,586,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama acquired a new position in shares of Avantor during the third quarter worth about $21,365,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 146.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,628,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,996,000 after buying an additional 1,562,018 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Avantor during the fourth quarter worth about $555,000. Finally, Central Pacific Bank Trust Division boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 44.1% during the fourth quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 29,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $619,000 after buying an additional 9,000 shares during the period. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.