Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the sixteen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have assigned a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $11.80.

AVTR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Avantor from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $8.00 price target on shares of Avantor in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Evercore set a $10.00 price target on shares of Avantor in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $10.00 price objective on shares of Avantor in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, December 15th.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In related news, Director Gregory T. Lucier bought 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $9.16 per share, for a total transaction of $458,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 50,000 shares in the company, valued at $458,000. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Sanjeev K. Mehra purchased 125,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $8.01 per share, for a total transaction of $1,001,250.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 475,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,804,750. The trade was a 35.71% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders purchased 275,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,399,250. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avantor

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Avantor by 124.8% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,907,077 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,800,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,617 shares during the last quarter. Sector Gamma AS grew its position in Avantor by 28.0% in the third quarter. Sector Gamma AS now owns 477,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,954,000 after acquiring an additional 104,466 shares during the period. Greenhaven Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Avantor during the third quarter worth $228,528,000. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its stake in Avantor by 1,333.0% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 246,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,076,000 after acquiring an additional 229,293 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voss Capital LP purchased a new stake in Avantor in the second quarter valued at $6,057,000. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of Avantor stock opened at $7.51 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.12 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.62, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.49. Avantor has a 12 month low of $7.39 and a 12 month high of $16.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. Avantor had a positive return on equity of 10.45% and a negative net margin of 8.09%.The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Avantor has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.770-0.830 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Avantor will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.