Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Price Target Cut to $17.00 by Analysts at Robert W. Baird

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) had its target price decreased by Robert W. Baird from $21.00 to $17.00 in a research report issued on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird's price target would indicate a potential upside of 32.14% from the company's current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on AVTR. Morgan Stanley set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Avantor and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Avantor from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Raymond James reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $24.00 target price (down previously from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $18.88.

Avantor Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of Avantor stock traded down $0.10 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $12.87. 8,789,299 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,357,804. The company has a market cap of $8.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24. Avantor has a 52 week low of $12.20 and a 52 week high of $28.00. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $15.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.23. Avantor had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 10.49%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Avantor will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the firm'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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,531,753.87. This trade represents a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $86,019.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 40,604 shares of the company's stock, valued at $711,788.12. The trade was a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Avantor

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dodge & Cox lifted its holdings in Avantor by 44.9% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 99,145,770 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,089,001,000 after buying an additional 30,727,673 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,969,754 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,347,843,000 after purchasing an additional 1,211,418 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 41.4% in the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 30,528,092 shares of the company's stock worth $643,227,000 after purchasing an additional 8,936,879 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake 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 worth $443,251,000 after purchasing an additional 112,644 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Avantor by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 18,136,206 shares of the company's stock valued at $382,131,000 after purchasing an additional 443,501 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.