Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Increases Stock Holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 138,465 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 765 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Avantor were worth $2,917,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTR. State Street Corp raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 8,206,695 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Avantor by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 17,692,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $457,710,000 after purchasing an additional 2,719,615 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Avantor by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,150,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $287,791,000 after buying an additional 739,667 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Avantor by 653.0% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,174,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,740,000 after buying an additional 5,354,678 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CCLA Investment Management increased its position in Avantor by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 5,357,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,940,000 after buying an additional 229,199 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Avantor Stock Performance

NYSE:AVTR opened at $16.50 on Friday. Avantor, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.46 and a fifty-two week high of $28.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $20.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.74. The company has a market cap of $11.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share 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 previous year, the company earned $0.22 EPS. Analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AVTR has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.92.

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.