Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Reaches New 52-Week Low – Here’s Why

Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) reached a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $7.38 and last traded at $7.6150, with a volume of 1538297 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $7.59.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVTR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $10.00 price objective on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird set a $11.00 target price on shares of Avantor in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Avantor from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $10.00 price target on shares of Avantor in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $8.00 price objective on shares of Avantor in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.80.

Avantor Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $9.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.43.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. Avantor had a negative net margin of 8.09% and a positive return on equity of 10.45%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Avantor has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.770-0.830 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In related news, Director Sanjeev K. Mehra purchased 125,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $8.01 per share, with a total value of $1,001,250.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 475,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,804,750. This represents a 35.71% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Gregory L. Summe purchased 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $9.40 per share, for a total transaction of $940,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 400,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,760,000. The trade was a 33.33% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 275,000 shares of company stock worth $2,399,250. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Avantor

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 124.8% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,907,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,617 shares during the period. Greenhaven Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Avantor during the 3rd quarter worth $228,528,000. Sector Gamma AS lifted 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 worth $5,954,000 after acquiring an additional 104,466 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted 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 worth $3,076,000 after acquiring an additional 229,293 shares during the period. Finally, Voss Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Avantor in the second quarter valued at about $6,057,000. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.