Stifel Nicolaus Cuts Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Price Target to $26.00

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) had its target price cut by Stifel Nicolaus from $28.00 to $26.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on AVTR. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Avantor from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective (down previously from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Raymond James cut their price objective on Avantor from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays cut their price objective on Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.15.

Avantor Stock Performance

NYSE AVTR opened at $18.06 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $12.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.54. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $21.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.39. Avantor has a fifty-two week low of $18.00 and a fifty-two week high of $28.00.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Avantor will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avantor

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,969,754 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,347,843,000 after purchasing an additional 1,211,418 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 41.4% during the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 30,528,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $643,227,000 after purchasing an additional 8,936,879 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 17,692,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $457,710,000 after purchasing an additional 2,719,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,232,329 shares of the company’s stock worth $236,227,000 after purchasing an additional 81,541 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

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.