Morgan Stanley Cuts Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) Price Target to $25.00

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) had its target price reduced by Morgan Stanley from $27.00 to $25.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock.

AVTR has been the subject of a number of other reports. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 target price (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.15.

Avantor Price Performance

NYSE AVTR opened at $18.06 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.29 billion, a PE ratio of 39.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $21.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.39. Avantor has a 12-month low of $18.00 and a 12-month high of $28.00.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.01. Avantor had a net margin of 4.54% and a return on equity of 12.24%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Avantor will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avantor

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Avantor by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,969,754 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,347,843,000 after acquiring an additional 1,211,418 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its stake in Avantor by 41.4% during the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 30,528,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $643,227,000 after buying an additional 8,936,879 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Avantor by 58.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,368,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $578,666,000 after buying an additional 8,206,695 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Avantor by 18.2% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 17,692,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $457,710,000 after buying an additional 2,719,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Avantor by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,232,329 shares of the company’s stock worth $236,227,000 after buying an additional 81,541 shares in the last quarter. 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.