Raymond James Financial Reiterates “$14.00” Price Target for Avantor (NYSE:AVTR)

Raymond James Financial set a $14.00 price target on Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

AVTR has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $26.00 to $14.00 in a report on Monday, April 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Avantor in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Avantor from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $23.00 to $14.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Cowen lowered shares of Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.50.

Avantor Stock Performance

AVTR opened at $11.20 on Monday. Avantor has a 1-year low of $10.82 and a 1-year high of $27.83. The company has a market cap of $7.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.31, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $13.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.01). Avantor had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 10.31%. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.25 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Avantor will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Avantor

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,476 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.39, for a total value of $39,591.64. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 55,068 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $627,224.52. The trade was a 5.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Gregory L. Summe bought 30,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $12.50 per share, with a total value of $375,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,250,000. This trade represents a 42.86% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avantor

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dodge & Cox raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 1.1% in the first quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 100,262,723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,625,259,000 after buying an additional 1,116,953 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Avantor by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,952,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,052,887,000 after acquiring an additional 983,172 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Avantor by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 41,969,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $680,321,000 after acquiring an additional 608,806 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in Avantor by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 21,037,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $443,251,000 after purchasing an additional 112,644 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Avantor by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 18,136,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,131,000 after purchasing an additional 443,501 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.