Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Short Interest Up 21.1% in February

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 32,680,000 shares, a growth of 21.1% from the January 31st total of 26,990,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,520,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.9 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value of $65,877.74. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at $1,531,753.87. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value 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. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avantor

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AVTR. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Avantor by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 188,900 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,980,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in Avantor by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 24,900 shares of the company's stock valued at $644,000 after buying an additional 503 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Avantor by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,069 shares of the company's stock valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 522 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 99,825 shares of the company's stock worth $2,103,000 after buying an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,257 shares of the company's stock valued at $132,000 after acquiring an additional 592 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVTR has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reissued 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Avantor currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $25.50.

Avantor Stock Performance

AVTR traded down $0.22 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $17.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,714,862 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,502,097. The firm has a market cap of $11.76 billion, a PE ratio of 16.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.07. Avantor has a 52 week low of $15.37 and a 52 week high of $28.00. The company's 50-day moving average is $19.99 and its 200-day moving average is $22.33.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Avantor will post 1.06 EPS for the current 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.