Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Price Target Cut to $14.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) had its target price lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $16.00 to $14.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $10.50 target price on shares of Avantor in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of Avantor in a research report on Thursday. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Avantor from $12.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $10.00 price target on shares of Avantor in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $12.00 price target (down from $14.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.84.

Avantor Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVTR opened at $9.19 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $11.38 and a 200 day moving average of $12.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market capitalization of $6.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.94. Avantor has a 52 week low of $8.90 and a 52 week high of $18.36.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for 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 business’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. Avantor has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.770-0.830 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Avantor will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In related news, Director Sanjeev K. Mehra acquired 350,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $11.09 per share, with a total value of $3,881,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 350,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,881,500. This represents a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gregory L. Summe bought 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $9.40 per share, for a total transaction of $940,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 400,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,000. This trade represents a 33.33% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Avantor

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Greenhaven Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Avantor in the third quarter valued at about $228,528,000. Dodge & Cox boosted its position in Avantor by 17.1% in the second quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 117,433,484 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,580,655,000 after buying an additional 17,170,761 shares during the last quarter. London Co. of Virginia purchased a new stake in Avantor in the third quarter valued at approximately $159,669,000. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Avantor by 179.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,468,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,188,000 after buying an additional 11,216,565 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Avantor during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $108,167,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

More Avantor News

Here are the key news stories impacting Avantor this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Director buys 100,000 shares — Long?time director Gregory Summe purchased 100,000 shares at roughly $9.40, increasing his stake by ~33%, which can be read as management confidence and provides some near?term support. Insider Purchase
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo keeps an overweight rating (PT lowered to $14) — Analyst lowered the target from $16 to $14 but maintained an overweight stance, implying material upside from current levels and offering some buy-side rationale. Benzinga: Wells Fargo Note
• Neutral Sentiment: Q4 beat on adjusted EPS and revenue, but topline slipped year?over?year — Adjusted EPS of $0.22 beat consensus and revenue of $1.66B slightly topped estimates, yet sales declined y/y; mixed set that dampens enthusiasm despite the beat. Q4 Results
• Neutral Sentiment: Company roll?out plan detailed — Management presented a “revival” program (VWR relaunch, supply?chain and e?commerce initiatives) and slide deck — important for execution but unlikely to reverse near?term headwinds immediately. Slide Deck
• Negative Sentiment: FY2026 guidance misses consensus — Management set FY2026 EPS at $0.77–$0.83, below street expectations, which is the primary driver of the selloff as it signals continued margin and revenue pressure.
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction and margin concerns — Analysts and media highlighted margin compression and declining organic sales; headlines noted the shares plunged after the report. Zacks: Stock Reaction
• Negative Sentiment: Heavy put option buying — Unusually large put volume (?48k contracts) signals elevated bearish sentiment and hedging activity, increasing downside risk and volatility. Options Flow
• Negative Sentiment: GAAP profit swing to a net loss — The move to a 2025 GAAP net loss underscores near?term execution risk despite adjusted profit metrics; investors will be watching execution on the recovery plan closely. Yahoo: Profit Swing

Avantor Company Profile

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.