Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) saw a significant decrease in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 26,990,000 shares, a decrease of 6.1% from the January 15th total of 28,750,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,750,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.7 days.

Avantor Trading Down 3.2 %

Avantor stock opened at $17.31 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Avantor has a 12 month low of $17.19 and a 12 month high of $28.00. The stock has a market cap of $11.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.62, a P/E/G ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 1.28.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. Avantor had a net margin of 4.54% and a return on equity of 12.24%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Avantor will post 0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avantor

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dodge & Cox raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 44.9% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 99,145,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,089,001,000 after acquiring an additional 30,727,673 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its holdings in Avantor by 41.4% during the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 30,528,092 shares of the company’s stock valued at $643,227,000 after purchasing an additional 8,936,879 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Avantor by 58.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,368,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $578,666,000 after purchasing an additional 8,206,695 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Avantor in the fourth quarter worth $142,512,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 653.0% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,174,736 shares of the company’s stock worth $159,740,000 after buying an additional 5,354,678 shares during the period. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on AVTR. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Avantor from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays dropped their price target on Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.92.

Avantor Company Profile

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.