Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Shares Gap Up to $24.41

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $24.41, but opened at $25.24. Avantor shares last traded at $25.72, with a volume of 922,461 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AVTR. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Avantor from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Barclays lifted their target price on Avantor from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Avantor from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Avantor from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Avantor from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.71.

Avantor Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a fifty day moving average of $25.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.57.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Avantor had a return on equity of 14.11% and a net margin of 4.61%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP James Bramwell sold 6,203 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total transaction of $151,911.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 101,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,476,992.07. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Avantor

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Avantor in the 4th quarter valued at $156,455,000. Boston Partners boosted its stake in Avantor by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 28,077,026 shares of the company’s stock valued at $588,362,000 after purchasing an additional 4,948,951 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Avantor in the 4th quarter valued at $93,433,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Avantor by 56.5% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,591,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,957,000 after purchasing an additional 2,381,154 shares during the period. Finally, Avidity Partners Management LP bought a new stake in Avantor in the 4th quarter valued at $48,442,000. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.