Short Interest in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Decreases By 13.2%

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 28,370,000 shares, a decline of 13.2% from the February 13th total of 32,680,000 shares. Currently, 4.2% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 6,090,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AVTR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup cut their target price on Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus cut 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, February 10th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Avantor in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced 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, February 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.50.

Avantor Stock Down 2.2 %

AVTR stock opened at $16.30 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. Avantor has a fifty-two week low of $15.37 and a fifty-two week high of $28.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $19.08 and a 200-day moving average of $21.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.70.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released 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 return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 10.49%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.22 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Avantor will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $65,877.74. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,531,753.87. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $86,019.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $711,788.12. The trade was a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AVTR. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its position in Avantor by 34.1% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 346,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,972,000 after purchasing an additional 88,205 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 38.7% during the 4th quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,766,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,228,000 after acquiring an additional 493,408 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Avantor in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $555,000. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,922,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,504,000 after purchasing an additional 33,692 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its stake in shares of Avantor by 45.8% in the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 723,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,708,000 after purchasing an additional 227,200 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.