Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Sets New 12-Month Low – Time to Sell?

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) hit a new 52-week low on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $9.49 and last traded at $9.3280, with a volume of 353733 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.16.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AVTR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore set a $12.00 price target on Avantor and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Bank of America lowered Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Avantor to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Avantor from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of Avantor from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.60.

Avantor Trading Down 16.9%

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $11.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.30. The company has a market cap of $6.32 billion, a PE ratio of -72.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Avantor had a negative net margin of 1.25% and a positive return on equity of 10.91%. The company’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avantor news, Director Sanjeev K. Mehra acquired 350,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $11.09 per share, for a total transaction of $3,881,500.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 350,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,881,500. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Avantor

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new position in Avantor in the 4th quarter worth about $437,000. State of Wyoming grew its stake in Avantor by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 6,092 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 1,468 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Avantor by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,417,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,629,000 after acquiring an additional 93,202 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Avantor by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 2,121,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,316,000 after purchasing an additional 214,746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Avantor in the 4th quarter worth approximately $73,322,000. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Avantor

Avantor, Inc (NYSE:AVTR) is a global provider of mission-critical products and services to customers in the biopharma, healthcare, education & government, and advanced technologies & applied materials industries. The company delivers essential solutions that support research, development, production and safety applications. Its product portfolio spans from high-purity chemicals and reagents to biologics and cell culture media, as well as lab equipment, consumables and custom manufacturing services.

Avantor’s offerings are organized across two primary segments.