Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Shares Down 3.7% Following Analyst Downgrade

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report)'s stock price fell 3.7% during trading on Monday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $18.00 to $15.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Avantor traded as low as $12.72 and last traded at $12.45. 2,368,168 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 7,104,598 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.93.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Avantor from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Raymond James restated an "outperform" rating and set a $24.00 price target (down previously from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Monday, February 10th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $15.50 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $25.00 price target (down previously from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Avantor from $21.00 to $17.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $20.32.

Insider Transactions at Avantor

In other news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $65,877.74. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,531,753.87. This trade represents a 4.12 % 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

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. Dodge & Cox lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 44.9% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 99,145,770 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,089,001,000 after purchasing an additional 30,727,673 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake in Avantor by 41.4% during the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 30,528,092 shares of the company's stock valued at $643,227,000 after acquiring an additional 8,936,879 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Avantor during the 4th quarter valued at about $142,512,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 48.3% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 9,158,175 shares of the company's stock worth $192,963,000 after acquiring an additional 2,983,439 shares during the period. Finally, Clarkston Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Avantor by 43.6% during the fourth quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,145,825 shares of the company's stock valued at $171,633,000 after purchasing an additional 2,473,395 shares during the period. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Avantor Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.72. The company has a market cap of $8.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.22 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

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.

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