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

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

AVTR has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group set a $12.00 target price on Avantor in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial downgraded Avantor from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Avantor to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $12.00 target price (down previously from $14.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $12.00 price target (down previously from $15.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.97.

Avantor Stock Performance

Shares of Avantor stock opened at $11.46 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $11.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -88.15, a PEG ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Avantor has a 52 week low of $10.62 and a 52 week high of $23.32.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.01). Avantor had a positive return on equity of 10.91% and a negative net margin of 1.25%.The company had revenue of $1.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Avantor has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.880-0.920 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Avantor will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Avantor news, Director Gregory L. Summe acquired 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $11.25 per share, for a total transaction of $1,125,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 300,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,375,000. The trade was a 50.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Sanjeev K. Mehra bought 350,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $11.09 per share, with a total value of $3,881,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 350,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,881,500. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avantor

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dodge & Cox grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 117,746,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,469,481,000 after buying an additional 313,404 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Avantor by 1.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,988,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $823,542,000 after acquiring an additional 1,135,279 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its position in Avantor by 10.8% in the third quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 34,548,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $431,161,000 after acquiring an additional 3,356,861 shares during the period. Greenhaven Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Avantor in the third quarter worth approximately $228,528,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Avantor by 0.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 16,053,368 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,346,000 after acquiring an additional 119,508 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Avantor

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.