Geode Capital Management LLC Purchases 81,541 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,232,329 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 81,541 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 1.65% of Avantor worth $236,227,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in Avantor by 99.5% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position 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 worth $34,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Avantor by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,459 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 1,067 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Avantor by 56.3% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,981 shares of the company's stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new position in Avantor in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.08% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on AVTR. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. 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 note on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $25.00 price objective (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Avantor from $23.00 to $18.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $25.08.

Avantor Stock Performance

Avantor stock traded down $1.25 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $14.64. The stock had a trading volume of 3,191,071 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,312,715. The company has a market cap of $9.97 billion, a PE ratio of 14.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24. Avantor, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.80 and a fifty-two week high of $28.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $17.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 period last year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In other Avantor news, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the business'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 transaction of $65,877.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at $1,531,753.87. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the firm'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 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 $711,788.12. This represents a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Avantor Company 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.