Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Upgraded to Hold at Zacks Research

Key Points

• Zacks Research upgraded Avantor from a "strong sell" to a "hold"; the stock's consensus analyst rating is "Hold" with a consensus price target of $11.39, even as several firms recently lowered price targets.
• Avantor slightly beat the quarter's estimates (EPS $0.17 vs $0.16; revenue $1.58B vs $1.54B) but still reports a negative net margin (-8.42%) and its shares trade near the 52‑week low (opened $7.97; market cap ~$5.44B).
• Insiders purchased 275,000 shares in the past 90 days (insiders own 0.28%), while institutional investors hold about 95.08% of the stock.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Avantor from $11.00 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Barclays lowered their price objective on Avantor from $8.50 to $7.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Avantor from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an "underperform" rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of Avantor in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $10.00 price objective on Avantor in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $11.39.

Avantor Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of Avantor stock opened at $7.97 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.44 billion, a PE ratio of -9.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The company's fifty day moving average price is $8.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.50. Avantor has a 52-week low of $7.26 and a 52-week high of $15.93.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. Avantor had a negative net margin of 8.42% and a positive return on equity of 9.95%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.23 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Avantor will post 0.79 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Gregory L. Summe acquired 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $9.40 per share, with a total value of $940,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 400,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,000. The trade was a 33.33% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Sanjeev K. Mehra acquired 125,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $8.01 per share, for a total transaction of $1,001,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 475,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,804,750. The trade was a 35.71% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have purchased a total of 275,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,399,250 in the last 90 days. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Avantor by 124.8% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,907,077 shares of the company's stock valued at $23,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,617 shares during the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Avantor in the 3rd quarter valued at about $228,528,000. Sector Gamma AS boosted its stake in shares of Avantor by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sector Gamma AS now owns 477,104 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,954,000 after purchasing an additional 104,466 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its stake in shares of Avantor by 1,333.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 246,494 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,076,000 after purchasing an additional 229,293 shares during the last quarter. Finally, London Co. of Virginia bought a new position in shares of Avantor in the 3rd quarter valued at about $159,669,000. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Avantor Company Profile

Avantor, Inc NYSE: AVTR is a global provider of mission-critical products and services to customers in the biopharma, healthcare, education & government, and advanced technologies & applied materials industries. The company delivers essential solutions that support research, development, production and safety applications. Its product portfolio spans from high-purity chemicals and reagents to biologics and cell culture media, as well as lab equipment, consumables and custom manufacturing services.

Avantor's offerings are organized across two primary segments.

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