Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Shares Gap Up to $24.41

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $24.41, but opened at $25.24. Avantor shares last traded at $25.72, with a volume of 922,461 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AVTR shares. Raymond James boosted their price target on Avantor from $22.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Avantor from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Avantor from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Avantor from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Avantor from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.71.

Avantor Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market cap of $17.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.84, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.37.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Avantor had a return on equity of 14.11% and a net margin of 4.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Avantor

In other news, EVP James Bramwell sold 6,203 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total value of $151,911.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 101,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,476,992.07. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avantor

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in Avantor by 125.3% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 694 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its position in Avantor by 565.5% in the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 1,131 shares during the last quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP bought a new position in Avantor in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Avantor in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Avantor by 203,100.0% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,032 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 2,031 shares during 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.