Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Trading 8.2% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) were up 8.2% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $10.23 and last traded at $10.5560. 1,160,610 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 10,419,951 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.76.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Avantor from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. UBS Group set a $8.00 target price on shares of Avantor in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Avantor from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Avantor from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore set a $10.50 price target on Avantor in a research note on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $10.62.

Avantor Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $7.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.76. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $9.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.43.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. Avantor had a positive return on equity of 9.95% and a negative net margin of 8.42%.The business’s revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.23 EPS. Analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Avantor

In other Avantor news, Director Gregory T. Lucier bought 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $8.32 per share, with a total value of $83,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 60,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $499,200. The trade was a 20.00% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Simon Dingemans acquired 25,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $8.14 per share, with a total value of $203,500.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,500. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avantor

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AVTR. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Avantor by 425.0% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 556,871 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,513,000 after purchasing an additional 450,801 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 93.3% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 46,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $461,000 after purchasing an additional 22,491 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Avantor by 372.1% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 9,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 7,151 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Avantor by 21.4% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 8,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 1,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verus Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Avantor during the first quarter valued at approximately $111,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

About Avantor

Avantor, Inc (NYSE:AVTR) is a global provider of mission-critical products and services to customers in the biopharma, healthcare, education & government, and advanced technologies & applied materials industries. The company delivers essential solutions that support research, development, production and safety applications. Its product portfolio spans from high-purity chemicals and reagents to biologics and cell culture media, as well as lab equipment, consumables and custom manufacturing services.

Avantor’s offerings are organized across two primary segments.