Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 34,740,000 shares, an increase of 25.0% from the May 15th total of 27,800,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 11,960,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days. Currently, 5.2% of the company's stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other news, Director Gregory L. Summe purchased 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $12.65 per share, with a total value of $253,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 70,000 shares in the company, valued at $885,500. This represents a 40.00% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph R. Massaro purchased 8,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $12.30 per share, with a total value of $99,630.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 35,038 shares in the company, valued at $430,967.40. This represents a 30.07% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 83,100 shares of company stock valued at $1,027,630 in the last 90 days. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Avantor

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dodge & Cox increased its position in shares of Avantor by 1.1% during the first quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 100,262,723 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,625,259,000 after purchasing an additional 1,116,953 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Avantor by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,952,926 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,052,887,000 after purchasing an additional 983,172 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Avantor by 1.5% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 41,969,199 shares of the company's stock valued at $680,321,000 after purchasing an additional 608,806 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in shares of 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 period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in shares of Avantor by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 21,037,089 shares of the company's stock valued at $443,251,000 after purchasing an additional 112,644 shares during the period. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Avantor Stock Performance

Shares of AVTR stock traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $13.31. 13,526,433 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,196,925. Avantor has a fifty-two week low of $11.82 and a fifty-two week high of $28.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $13.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23. The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.61 billion. Avantor had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 10.70%. Avantor's quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.22 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Avantor will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AVTR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $23.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Stifel Nicolaus cut Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $26.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. TD Cowen cut Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $15.50 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Cowen lowered Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $18.88.

About Avantor

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.

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