Bank of New York Mellon Corp Acquires 68,598 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,830,719 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 68,598 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Avantor were worth $101,783,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 58.0% in 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. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Avantor by 653.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 5,354,678 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Avantor by 557.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,675,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,950,000 after buying an additional 3,963,912 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 146.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,628,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,996,000 after buying an additional 1,562,018 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $65,877.74. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,531,753.87. This represents a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $86,019.71. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,604 shares in the company, valued at $711,788.12. This trade represents a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Avantor Trading Up 1.3 %

AVTR opened at $16.71 on Friday. Avantor, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.41 and a twelve month high of $28.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $20.51 and a 200-day moving average of $22.67. The stock has a market cap of $11.37 billion, a PE ratio of 16.06, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.22 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVTR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 price objective (down previously from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.92.

Avantor 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.