Corebridge Financial Inc. Sells 33,812 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Corebridge Financial Inc. lessened its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 770,117 shares of the company’s stock after selling 33,812 shares during the period. Corebridge Financial Inc.’s holdings in Avantor were worth $16,226,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AVTR. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in shares of Avantor by 99.5% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 106.3% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Avantor by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,459 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Avantor by 56.3% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC bought a new position in Avantor during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on AVTR. Stifel Nicolaus cut 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. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 target price (down previously from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup cut their price target on Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note 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 MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avantor news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 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 $65,877.74. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares of the company’s stock, 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. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Avantor Trading Down 0.1 %

Avantor stock opened at $16.53 on Tuesday. Avantor, Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.37 and a 12-month high of $28.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $18.87 and a 200 day moving average of $21.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) 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 previous year, the firm earned $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current 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.