Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) shares gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $13.27, but opened at $13.96. Avantor shares last traded at $13.26, with a volume of 1,005,532 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AVTR shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $12.00 price objective on shares of Avantor and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Raymond James Financial set a $14.00 price objective on shares of Avantor and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Avantor from $18.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Avantor from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Avantor from $15.00 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.50.

Avantor Trading Up 0.6%

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $13.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.33. The company has a market cap of $9.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.98.

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

Insider Activity at Avantor

In related 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 transaction of $39,591.64. Following the completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Avantor

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Avantor during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in Avantor by 288.4% in the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,701 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,263 shares in the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp acquired a new stake in Avantor in the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Avantor by 119.1% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in Avantor in the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. 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.