Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Short Interest Update

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 28,370,000 shares, a decline of 13.2% from the February 13th total of 32,680,000 shares. Currently, 4.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 6,090,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.7 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $65,877.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $86,019.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 40,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $711,788.12. This trade represents a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avantor

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its stake in shares of Avantor by 34.1% in the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 346,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,972,000 after purchasing an additional 88,205 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd raised its holdings in Avantor by 38.7% in the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,766,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,228,000 after buying an additional 493,408 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Avantor in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $555,000. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in Avantor by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,922,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,504,000 after buying an additional 33,692 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its holdings in Avantor by 45.8% in the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 723,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,708,000 after buying an additional 227,200 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AVTR. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.50.

Avantor Price Performance

Avantor stock traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $16.63. 303,820 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,245,299. The company has a market cap of $11.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Avantor has a twelve month low of $15.37 and a twelve month high of $28.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $19.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.84.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company posted $0.22 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Avantor will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.