Short Interest in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Grows By 6.6%

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 29,290,000 shares, a growth of 6.6% from the March 15th total of 27,470,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 5,900,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.0 days.

Insider Transactions at Avantor

In other news, EVP James Bramwell sold 6,203 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total value of $151,911.47. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 101,143 shares in the company, valued at $2,476,992.07. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avantor

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 125.3% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 694 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 565.5% during the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,131 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 815.3% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,437 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280 shares during the period. Gladius Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Avantor during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Avantor during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on AVTR. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Avantor from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group raised their price target on Avantor from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Avantor from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Barclays raised their price objective on Avantor from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on Avantor from $22.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.50.

Avantor Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:AVTR traded down $0.11 on Wednesday, hitting $24.60. 2,586,182 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,733,357. Avantor has a 52 week low of $16.63 and a 52 week high of $26.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.41. The company has a market cap of $16.69 billion, a PE ratio of 51.26, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.37.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.03. Avantor had a return on equity of 14.11% and a net margin of 4.61%. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. Avantor’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Avantor will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current year.

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.