Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Lowers Stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P trimmed its holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 19.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 601,069 shares of the company's stock after selling 148,644 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned about 0.09% of Avantor worth $12,665,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AVTR. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 625 shares in 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 purchasing an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Avantor by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,459 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Avantor in the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company's stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Avantor

In related news, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $65,877.74. Following the completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $86,019.71. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 40,604 shares in the company, 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. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Avantor in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley decreased 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. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $25.50.

Avantor Trading Up 1.0 %

AVTR traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $15.96. 2,480,425 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,473,087. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $18.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.86 billion, a PE ratio of 15.33, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.37 and a 52-week high of $28.00.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) 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 last year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.