Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Downgraded to “Neutral” Rating by The Goldman Sachs Group

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) was downgraded by investment analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They currently have a $14.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 12.09% from the stock’s current price.

AVTR has been the subject of several other reports. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective (down from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Avantor from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Cowen downgraded shares of Avantor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 price target (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Avantor from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.88.

Avantor Price Performance

Avantor stock opened at $12.49 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.07. Avantor has a 52 week low of $12.20 and a 52 week high of $28.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $15.91 and a 200-day moving average of $19.64.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.23. Avantor had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 10.49%. The company had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Avantor will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In other news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 40,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $711,788.12. This represents a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $65,877.74. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avantor

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AVTR. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in shares of Avantor by 99.5% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 106.3% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Avantor in the 1st quarter worth $34,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Avantor by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,459 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Avantor by 121.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,747 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 2,056 shares during 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.