Barclays Reiterates Underweight Rating for Avantor (NYSE:AVTR)

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR)‘s stock had its “underweight” rating reiterated by research analysts at Barclays in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat reports. They presently have a $8.50 target price on the stock. Barclays‘s target price points to a potential upside of 3.91% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the stock. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Avantor in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Avantor from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Evercore set a $10.00 price objective on shares of Avantor in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley set a $10.00 price objective on Avantor in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Bank of America lowered Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.80.

Avantor Price Performance

AVTR opened at $8.18 on Friday. 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 has a 52-week low of $8.14 and a 52-week high of $18.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.58 billion, a PE ratio of -10.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $10.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.85.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.22 EPS 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 positive return on equity of 10.45% and a negative net margin of 8.09%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. Avantor has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.770-0.830 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Avantor will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Avantor

In related news, Director Gregory T. Lucier purchased 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $9.16 per share, with a total value of $458,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $458,000. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Gregory L. Summe acquired 100,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $9.40 per share, with a total value of $940,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 400,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,000. This represents a 33.33% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avantor

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Avantor by 635.0% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 218,287 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,514,000 after purchasing an additional 188,587 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC bought a new stake in Avantor during the 4th quarter valued at about $211,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Avantor by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 109,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,254,000 after buying an additional 19,697 shares during the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. raised its holdings in Avantor by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. now owns 24,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $273,000 after buying an additional 1,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,178,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,868,000 after buying an additional 1,125,348 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Avantor News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Avantor this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $8.50 price target (small upside relative to the current price), signaling limited near-term upside and continued cautious analyst positioning. Barclays Reaffirmation
• Neutral Sentiment: A recent Yahoo Finance piece outlines how analysts are resetting fair-value targets for Avantor, documenting the shift in analyst views but not pointing to an immediate positive catalyst. How The Avantor Story Is Shifting
• Negative Sentiment: Unusually large put-option volume: investors bought ~94,708 puts (up ~1,582% vs. typical), indicating significant bearish positioning or hedging activity that can amplify downside volatility.
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research issued a wave of cuts to quarterly and full-year EPS estimates, downgraded multiple forward-quarter forecasts and assigned AVTR a “Strong Sell” / Zacks Rank #5 — a material negative read on near-term fundamentals and sentiment. Zacks Adds AVTR to Strong Sell List

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.