Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Short Interest Down 13.2% in February

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 28,370,000 shares, a decline of 13.2% from the February 13th total of 32,680,000 shares. Approximately 4.2% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 6,090,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.7 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVTR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company 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 Monday, February 10th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Avantor has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.50.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of AVTR traded down $0.34 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $16.68. The stock had a trading volume of 1,080,547 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,551,070. The company’s fifty day moving average is $19.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.70. Avantor has a 52 week low of $15.37 and a 52 week high of $28.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30.

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

Insider Activity at Avantor

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $86,019.71. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,788.12. The trade was a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $65,877.74. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at $1,531,753.87. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its position in Avantor by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 188,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,980,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Avantor by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 24,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $644,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Avantor by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Avantor by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 99,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,103,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Avantor by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,000 after purchasing an additional 592 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.