Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 63,969,754 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,211,418 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.09% of Avantor worth $1,347,843,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AVTR. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in Avantor by 99.5% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Avantor by 106.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in Avantor by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Avantor by 56.3% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,074 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new position in Avantor during the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,000. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In other news, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $65,877.74. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at $1,531,753.87. This trade represents a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $86,019.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 40,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup reduced their price target on Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $24.00 target price (down from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Monday, February 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.50.

Avantor Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of AVTR opened at $16.17 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.37 and a 1-year high of $28.00. The stock has a market cap of $11.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.49.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.22 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.