Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Shares Sold by Natixis Advisors LLC

Natixis Advisors LLC lowered its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 19.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 403,110 shares of the company’s stock after selling 94,413 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Avantor were worth $8,494,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Avantor by 34.8% during the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 717,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,123,000 after purchasing an additional 185,364 shares during the last quarter. Wilson Asset Management International PTY Ltd. raised its position in shares of Avantor by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Wilson Asset Management International PTY Ltd. now owns 805,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,975,000 after purchasing an additional 48,626 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Avantor by 58.4% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 33,141 shares of the company’s stock worth $698,000 after purchasing an additional 12,221 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp raised its position in shares of Avantor by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 16,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 8,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Avantor by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 77,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,632,000 after purchasing an additional 1,346 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $86,019.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,604 shares in the company, valued at $711,788.12. This represents a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $1,531,753.87. This trade represents a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on AVTR. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Avantor in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 price objective (down previously from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.50.

Avantor Stock Performance

NYSE:AVTR opened at $16.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.67, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.81. Avantor, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.37 and a fifty-two week high of $28.00.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.22 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast 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.