Citigroup Lowers Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) to Neutral

Citigroup lowered shares of Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $23.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $30.00.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on AVTR. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Avantor from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Avantor from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Avantor from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Avantor presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $25.79.

Avantor Price Performance

AVTR opened at $20.81 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $14.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.32. Avantor has a 12-month low of $16.63 and a 12-month high of $26.16.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. Avantor had a return on equity of 13.01% and a net margin of 3.79%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Avantor will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avantor

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Country Trust Bank lifted its holdings in Avantor by 16.9% in the second quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 1,903,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,363,000 after acquiring an additional 274,759 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Avantor by 222.0% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 19,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $424,000 after acquiring an additional 13,786 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Avantor by 5.9% in the second quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 45,297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $960,000 after acquiring an additional 2,522 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Avantor by 2,003.6% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102 shares during the period. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS lifted its holdings in Avantor by 7.6% in the second quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 118,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,517,000 after acquiring an additional 8,436 shares during the period. 95.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.