Avantor Inc. (NYSE: AVTR) stock jumped 0.11% on Friday to $28.53 against a previous-day closing price of $28.50. With 8.25 million shares changed hands, the volume of the stock remained heavier than its average volume of 5.29 million shares. During the session, the Specialty Chemicals company that operates in wider Basic Materials sector, reached to the highest price of $29.13 whereas the lowest price it dropped to was $28.35. The 52-week range on AVTR shows that it touched its highest point at $44.37 and its lowest point at $27.50 during that stretch. It currently has a 1-year price target of $36.19.
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Price Performance and Earnings:
Stock performance is one of the indicators that investors use to determine whether they will profit from a stock. The price performance of AVTR was down-trending over the past week, with a drop of -0.07%, but this was down by -0.66% over a month. Three-month performance dropped to -4.39% while six-month performance fell -24.32%. The stock lost -24.62% in the past year, while it has lost -32.30% so far this year. A look at the trailing 12-month EPS for AVTR yields 0.88 with Next year EPS estimates of 1.66. For the next quarter, that number is 0.35. This implies an EPS growth rate of 850.60% for this year and 13.42% for next year. EPS is expected to grow by 19.17% annually over the next five years; however, over the past five years, the company experienced an annual growth rate of 66.20%.
Float and Shares Shorts:
On Jul 14, 2022, short shares totaled 10.02 million, which was 1.64% higher than short shares on Jun 14, 2022. In addition to Mr. Michael Stubblefield as the firm’s Pres, CEO & Director, Mr. Thomas A. Szlosek serves as its Exec. VP & CFO.
Institutional Ownership:
Through their ownership of 92.67% of AVTR’s outstanding shares, institutional investors have majority control over the company. Other institutions hold 50.81% of AVTR, in contrast to 5.93% held by mutual funds. Shares owned by individuals account for 32.67%. As the largest shareholder in AVTR with 12.20% of the stake, T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. holds 82,157,282 shares worth 82,157,282. A second-largest stockholder of AVTR, The Vanguard Group, Inc., holds 49,536,171 shares, controlling over 7.36% of the firm’s shares. Canada Pension Plan Investment Bo is the third largest shareholder in AVTR, holding 24,540,970 shares or 3.65% stake. With a 3.62% stake in AVTR, the Canada Pension Plan is the largest stakeholder. A total of 24,344,000 shares are owned by the mutual fund manager. The Vanguard Total Stock Market Index, which owns about 2.65% of AVTR stock, is the second-largest Mutual Fund holder. It holds 17,868,769 shares valued at 555.72 million. T Rowe Price Mid Cap Growth Fund holds 2.12% of the stake in AVTR, owning 14,293,200 shares worth 444.52 million.
Analysts Ratings:
Reading analyst opinions is an effective way to decide where to invest, and there are several opinions available for AVTR since 16 analysts follow the stock currently. There are 11 analysts who recommend BUY ratings, while 0 suggest SELL ratings. Of the remaining analysts, 1 believe that the stock is worth HOLDING, 4 give it an OVERWEIGHT rating, and 0 thinks that it’s UNDERWEIGHT. In the same way, a target price assigned to a stock can also reveal much about its potential. With AVTR analysts setting a high price target of $51.00 and a low target of $32.00, the average target price over the next 12 months is $37.27. Based on these targets, AVTR could surge 78.76% to reach the target high and rise by 12.16% to reach the target low. Reaching the average price target will result in a growth of 30.63% from current levels.
EPS: Estimates vs Actual
It is also common to use earnings estimates to evaluate a firm’s growth potential and to determine trading strategy. AVTR will report FY 2022 earnings on 02/02/2023. Analysts have provided yearly estimates in a range of $1.52 being high and $1.43 being low. For AVTR, this leads to a yearly average estimate of $1.46. The earnings surprise of a firm occurs when the actual results change from the consensus earnings estimate. Avantor Inc. surprised analysts by -$0.01 when it reported $0.37 EPS against a consensus estimate of $0.38. The surprise factor in the prior quarter was $0.03. Based on analyst estimates, the high estimate for the next quarter is $0.37 and the low estimate is $0.33. The average estimate for the next quarter is thus $0.35.
Summary of Insider Activity:
Insiders traded AVTR stock several times over the past three months with 10 Buys and 9 Sells. In these transactions, 66,930 shares were bought while 242,177 shares were sold. The number of buy transactions has increased to 39 while that of sell transactions has risen to 53 over the past year. The total number of shares bought during that period was 477,805 while 1,392,447 shares were sold.
