Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Has $65.82 Million Position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,123,641 shares of the company’s stock after selling 151,034 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Avantor were worth $65,815,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of AVTR. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 188,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,980,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in Avantor by 2.1% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 24,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $644,000 after acquiring an additional 503 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Avantor by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after acquiring an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Avantor by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 99,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,103,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares during the period. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 99.5% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on AVTR shares. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price objective (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other Avantor news, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $65,877.74. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at $1,531,753.87. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $86,019.71. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Avantor Stock Performance

Shares of Avantor stock opened at $16.68 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.84. Avantor, Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.37 and a 12 month high of $28.00.

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 net margin of 10.49% and a return on equity of 12.17%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

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.