Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Price Target to $22.00

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) had its target price lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $25.00 to $22.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

AVTR has been the subject of several other reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 price target (down from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Avantor from $23.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.82.

Avantor Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE AVTR opened at $15.09 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.28 billion, a PE ratio of 14.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24. Avantor has a one year low of $13.80 and a one year high of $28.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $16.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.11.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. Avantor had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 10.49%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.22 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Avantor will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other Avantor news, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $65,877.74. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,531,753.87. This trade represents a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $86,019.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 40,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $711,788.12. This represents a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Avantor

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its position in Avantor by 43.9% in the first quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 34,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 10,433 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Avantor by 15.9% during the first quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 89,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,454,000 after purchasing an additional 12,285 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in Avantor by 52.0% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 1,359 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Avantor by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 38,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $621,000 after buying an additional 2,108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in Avantor by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 243,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,952,000 after acquiring an additional 12,361 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.