Citigroup Cuts Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Price Target to $18.00

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) had its target price reduced by Citigroup from $22.00 to $18.00 in a research report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

AVTR has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $24.00 target price (down from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 target price (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.50.

Avantor Stock Performance

Avantor stock opened at $16.15 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $10.99 billion, a PE ratio of 15.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $20.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.70. Avantor has a 12 month low of $15.37 and a 12 month high of $28.00.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.01. Avantor had a net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 12.17%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.22 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Avantor will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 40,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $711,788.12. The trade was a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $1,531,753.87. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AVTR. Dodge & Cox increased its stake in Avantor by 44.9% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 99,145,770 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,089,001,000 after purchasing an additional 30,727,673 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Avantor by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,969,754 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,347,843,000 after purchasing an additional 1,211,418 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its stake in Avantor by 41.4% in the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 30,528,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $643,227,000 after purchasing an additional 8,936,879 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Avantor by 58.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,368,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $578,666,000 after purchasing an additional 8,206,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in Avantor by 0.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 112,644 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.