Arizona State Retirement System Purchases 2,852 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 197,461 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,852 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Avantor were worth $4,161,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AVTR. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Avantor during the 4th quarter worth about $695,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Avantor by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,027,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,792,000 after buying an additional 74,735 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Avantor by 106.3% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lifted its position in Avantor by 97.9% during the 4th quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 142,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,002,000 after buying an additional 70,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its position in Avantor by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 29,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $625,000 after buying an additional 3,625 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AVTR. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Avantor from $26.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 target price (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Avantor has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 completion of 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 represents a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 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 value of $86,019.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 40,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,788.12. The trade was a 10.78 % 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.

Avantor Stock Performance

Shares of AVTR stock opened at $17.54 on Friday. 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 market cap of $11.94 billion, a PE ratio of 16.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $19.99 and a 200-day moving average of $22.35. Avantor, Inc. has a one year low of $15.37 and a one year high of $28.00.

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