Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $24.79, but opened at $25.77. Avantor shares last traded at $25.09, with a volume of 1,264,183 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on AVTR. Barclays upped their target price on Avantor from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of Avantor in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Avantor from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Citigroup downgraded Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $23.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Avantor from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.00.

Avantor Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.56, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.34.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Avantor had a net margin of 5.28% and a return on equity of 12.40%. On average, analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 3,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.06, for a total value of $88,336.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $740,372.64. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Avantor

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Avantor during the fourth quarter worth about $287,000. First Hawaiian Bank raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 91,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,342,000 after buying an additional 879 shares in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 36.5% during the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 77,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,970,000 after acquiring an additional 20,606 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in Avantor by 9.9% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 42,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,094,000 after acquiring an additional 3,853 shares during the period. Finally, Steph & Co. raised its position in Avantor by 21.7% in the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 17,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $440,000 after purchasing an additional 3,070 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

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.