Royal Bank of Canada Cuts Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Price Target to $31.00

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) had its price objective decreased by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada from $33.00 to $31.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 65.20% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on AVTR. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. 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 report on Monday. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday, January 17th. Raymond James cut their target price on Avantor from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Avantor from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Avantor currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.46.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of AVTR stock traded down $0.40 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $18.77. 2,704,222 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,111,776. The firm has a market cap of $12.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $21.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Avantor has a fifty-two week low of $18.49 and a fifty-two week high of $28.00.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. Avantor had a return on equity of 12.24% and a net margin of 4.54%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.22 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Avantor will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Avantor by 58.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,368,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $578,666,000 after purchasing an additional 8,206,695 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Avantor by 653.0% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,174,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,740,000 after acquiring an additional 5,354,678 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 557.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,675,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,950,000 after purchasing an additional 3,963,912 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 18.2% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 17,692,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $457,710,000 after purchasing an additional 2,719,615 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Avantor during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,091,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.