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

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) shares 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 traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Avantor from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Avantor has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.71.

Avantor Price Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $24.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.37 billion, a PE ratio of 50.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.61.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP James Bramwell sold 6,203 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total transaction 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 $2,476,992.07. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avantor

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of Avantor by 125.3% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 694 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its position in shares of Avantor by 565.5% during the fourth 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 period. Gladius Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Avantor during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Avantor during the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Avantor by 203,100.0% during the fourth 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 period. 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.