Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Raised to Hold at Royal Bank Of Canada

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) was upgraded by stock analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $10.50 price target on shares of Avantor in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Avantor in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $8.00 price target on shares of Avantor in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $10.00 price target on Avantor in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Avantor from $8.50 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.82.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AVTR opened at $7.64 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.76. Avantor has a fifty-two week low of $7.26 and a fifty-two week high of $15.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.21 billion, a PE ratio of -9.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $7.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.04.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.01. Avantor had a positive return on equity of 9.95% and a negative net margin of 8.42%.The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.23 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Avantor will post 0.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Simon Dingemans bought 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $8.14 per share, with a total value of $203,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,500. This trade represents a ? increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregory T. Lucier bought 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 50,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $458,000. This trade represents a ? increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 210,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,745,950. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Avantor

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dodge & Cox grew its holdings in Avantor by 0.3% during the third quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 117,746,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,469,481,000 after acquiring an additional 313,404 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Avantor by 1.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,988,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $823,542,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135,279 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its position in Avantor by 10.8% during the third quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 34,548,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $431,161,000 after purchasing an additional 3,356,861 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in Avantor during the fourth quarter worth $268,584,000. Finally, Greenhaven Associates Inc. boosted its position in Avantor by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 20,500,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,937,000 after purchasing an additional 2,189,083 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.