Steven W. Eck Sells 4,907 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Stock

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 40,604 shares in the company, valued at $711,788.12. The trade was a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Avantor Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE AVTR traded up $0.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $16.71. 6,975,650 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,757,332. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $20.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.74. The firm has a market cap of $11.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.06, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.28. Avantor, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.41 and a 12-month high of $28.00.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 prior year, the business earned $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avantor

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 106.3% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Avantor by 69.6% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,035 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in Avantor by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,459 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Avantor by 56.3% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,981 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 1,074 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays cut their target price on Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.92.

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.