Barclays Cuts Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Price Target to $25.00

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) had its price target decreased by Barclays from $28.00 to $25.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Avantor from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Avantor from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Avantor in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price objective on shares of Avantor in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.57.

Avantor Stock Performance

NYSE AVTR opened at $22.63 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $15.37 billion, a PE ratio of 58.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.33. Avantor has a twelve month low of $16.63 and a twelve month high of $28.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Avantor had a net margin of 5.28% and a return on equity of 12.40%. Equities analysts anticipate that Avantor will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.06, for a total transaction of $88,336.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $740,372.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avantor

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Avantor by 1,634.9% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 8,530,118 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,839,000 after buying an additional 8,038,451 shares during the last quarter. CCLA Investment Management raised its position in shares of Avantor by 147,220.3% in the 1st quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 4,720,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $120,828,000 after buying an additional 4,716,940 shares during the period. Sound Shore Management Inc. CT acquired a new stake in Avantor during the second quarter worth about $76,412,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Avantor by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 22,927,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $486,059,000 after purchasing an additional 1,463,695 shares during the period. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Avantor in the first quarter worth $35,154,000. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.