Citigroup Downgrades Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) to Neutral

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) was downgraded by stock analysts at Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. They presently have a $23.00 price objective on the stock, down from their previous price objective of $30.00. Citigroup’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 8.06% from the company’s previous close.

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

Avantor Stock Up 1.8 %

AVTR opened at $21.29 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Avantor has a 1-year low of $16.63 and a 1-year high of $26.16. The company has a market capitalization of $14.46 billion, a PE ratio of 54.58, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.32. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.69.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.02. Avantor had a net margin of 3.79% and a return on equity of 13.01%. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Avantor will post 1.01 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avantor

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,457,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,379,837,000 after buying an additional 211,189 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 28,561,802 shares of the company’s stock worth $729,298,000 after acquiring an additional 624,369 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 14.9% in the 1st quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 9,120,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,109,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180,937 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 7,099,848 shares of the company’s stock worth $181,544,000 after acquiring an additional 297,534 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Avantor in the 4th quarter worth about $156,455,000. 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.