Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Price Target Cut to $18.00 by Analysts at Citigroup

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) had its price target decreased by investment analysts at Citigroup from $22.00 to $18.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Citigroup’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 16.39% from the stock’s current price.

AVTR has been the subject of several other reports. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective 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 reduced their target price on Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price target (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.50.

Avantor Stock Performance

AVTR stock traded down $0.41 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $15.47. The company had a trading volume of 3,216,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,750,160. Avantor has a 1-year low of $15.37 and a 1-year high of $28.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $20.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $10.53 billion, a PE ratio of 14.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.28.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. Avantor had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 10.49%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.22 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Avantor will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other news, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $65,877.74. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at $1,531,753.87. This represents a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $86,019.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 40,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,788.12. This represents a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AVTR. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in Avantor by 99.5% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in Avantor by 106.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in Avantor by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,459 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 69.6% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 835 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 56.3% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,981 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 1,074 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

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.