Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Trading Up 6% - Still a Buy?

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report)'s stock price rose 6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $17.09 and last traded at $17.13. Approximately 7,212,494 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 20% from the average daily volume of 6,000,711 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.17.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AVTR. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $25.00 target price (down previously from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Raymond James restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $24.00 price target (down from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $25.50.

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Avantor Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.90, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. The stock's 50-day moving average is $19.92 and its 200-day moving average is $22.27.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last released its 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.22 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other Avantor news, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $86,019.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. Dodge & Cox lifted its holdings in shares of 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. lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,969,754 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,347,843,000 after buying an additional 1,211,418 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $643,227,000 after acquiring an additional 8,936,879 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Avantor by 58.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,368,244 shares of the company's stock valued at $578,666,000 after purchasing an additional 8,206,695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings 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 worth $443,251,000 after purchasing an additional 112,644 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company's stock.

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.