Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Shares Gap Up - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• Avantor's shares gapped up from a closing price of $11.50 to an opening price of $12.51, with last trading at $12.42 and a trading volume of 3,169,265 shares.
• Analyst ratings have been mixed, with Royal Bank Of Canada lowering its price target to $17.00 while Goldman Sachs cut their rating to "neutral" and price target to $14.00, resulting in a consensus rating of "Hold" with a price target of $15.50.
• Avantor reported earnings of $0.24 per share, missing estimates, while quarterly revenue was $1.68 billion, slightly above expectations, but showed a 1.1% decrease from the previous year.

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $11.50, but opened at $12.51. Avantor shares last traded at $12.42, with a volume of 3,169,265 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on AVTR. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Avantor from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Avantor from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Raymond James Financial set a $14.00 price target on shares of Avantor and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $12.00 price target on shares of Avantor and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $15.50.

Avantor Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a PE ratio of 12.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.96. The business's 50 day moving average price is $13.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.02.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. Avantor had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 10.31%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.25 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.39, for a total transaction of $39,591.64. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 55,068 shares in the company, valued at $627,224.52. The trade was a 5.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Gregory L. Summe acquired 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $12.50 per share, for a total transaction of $375,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 100,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,250,000. This represents a 42.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avantor

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AVTR. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 25.9% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 139,394 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,937,000 after purchasing an additional 28,706 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Avantor by 49.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,992,096 shares of the company's stock worth $147,323,000 after acquiring an additional 2,316,813 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Avantor in the fourth quarter worth about $6,858,000. Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new stake in Avantor in the fourth quarter worth about $209,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Avantor in the fourth quarter worth about $33,091,000. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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