Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank reduced its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,920,500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 95,600 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Avantor were worth $40,465,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AVTR. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Avantor by 58.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,368,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $578,666,000 after buying an additional 8,206,695 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Avantor by 653.0% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 6,174,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,740,000 after purchasing an additional 5,354,678 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Avantor by 557.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,675,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,950,000 after purchasing an additional 3,963,912 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Avantor by 18.2% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 17,692,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $457,710,000 after purchasing an additional 2,719,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Avantor during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,091,000. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction of $86,019.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 40,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $711,788.12. This represents a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $65,877.74. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 87,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,531,753.87. This trade represents a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVTR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Avantor presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.50.

Avantor Stock Performance

AVTR opened at $16.34 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.70. Avantor, Inc. has a 1-year low of $15.37 and a 1-year high of $28.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $19.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.01.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its 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 return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 10.49%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.22 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal 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.