Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Short Interest Up 24.1% in June

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 17,670,000 shares, a growth of 24.1% from the May 31st total of 14,240,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,410,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVTR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays lowered 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 Friday. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Avantor from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Avantor from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Avantor from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.29.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avantor

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Avantor in the fourth quarter worth $2,842,000. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in Avantor by 84.8% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,165,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,612,000 after buying an additional 534,901 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Avantor by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 628,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,342,000 after purchasing an additional 104,296 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Avantor by 146.1% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 217,296 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,961,000 after purchasing an additional 129,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its position in Avantor by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 2,283,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,430,000 after purchasing an additional 342,452 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Avantor Price Performance

Shares of Avantor stock traded down $0.19 on Tuesday, hitting $20.58. 5,348,864 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,824,606. Avantor has a 12-month low of $16.63 and a 12-month high of $26.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $13.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.32. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.81.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.02. Avantor had a return on equity of 13.01% and a net margin of 3.79%. The company had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.29 EPS. Avantor’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Avantor will post 1.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.