Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Short Interest Update

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on AVTR shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Avantor in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 target price (down from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Avantor has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the firm’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 value of $86,019.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 40,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $711,788.12. This trade represents a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at $1,531,753.87. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Avantor

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its position in Avantor by 34.1% in the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 346,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,972,000 after purchasing an additional 88,205 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd boosted its position in Avantor by 38.7% in the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,766,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,228,000 after buying an additional 493,408 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Avantor in the fourth quarter valued at about $555,000. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,922,368 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,504,000 after acquiring an additional 33,692 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 45.8% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 723,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,708,000 after acquiring an additional 227,200 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Avantor Stock Performance

AVTR traded down $0.05 during trading on Thursday, hitting $16.63. The stock had a trading volume of 303,820 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,245,299. The firm has a market cap of $11.32 billion, a PE ratio of 16.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. Avantor has a 12 month low of $15.37 and a 12 month high of $28.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.84.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 EPS 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $0.22 EPS. Analysts expect that Avantor will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

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.