Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Stock Rating Lowered by Stifel Nicolaus

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $14.00 price objective on the stock, down from their prior price objective of $26.00. Stifel Nicolaus' price objective suggests a potential upside of 7.82% from the stock's current price.

Several other research firms have also commented on AVTR. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $25.00 price target (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Avantor from $21.00 to $17.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Avantor from $23.00 to $18.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Raymond James reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $24.00 target price (down from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Cowen lowered shares of Avantor from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Avantor currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $18.88.

Avantor Stock Performance

Shares of AVTR traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $12.99. 13,765,834 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,338,975. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.49, 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 has a 12-month low of $12.20 and a 12-month high of $28.00. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $15.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.55.

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

Insider Transactions at Avantor

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $86,019.71. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 40,604 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $711,788.12. The trade was a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the business'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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at $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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avantor

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in Avantor by 44.9% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 99,145,770 shares of the company's stock worth $2,089,001,000 after buying an additional 30,727,673 shares during the last quarter. 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 last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $643,227,000 after purchasing an additional 8,936,879 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 0.5% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 2.5% in the 4th 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company's stock.

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.