Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Sells 59,760 Shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lowered its position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,084,416 shares of the company's stock after selling 59,760 shares during the quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned about 0.16% of Avantor worth $22,849,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AVTR. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Avantor by 2.1% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 24,900 shares of the company's stock valued at $644,000 after acquiring an additional 503 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Avantor by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,069 shares of the company's stock valued at $170,000 after acquiring an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Avantor by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 99,825 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,103,000 after acquiring an additional 542 shares during the last quarter. Veracity Capital LLC increased its stake in Avantor by 1.0% in the third quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 52,359 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,355,000 after acquiring an additional 543 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in Avantor by 99.5% in 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.08% of the company's stock.

Avantor Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE AVTR traded up $0.07 on Thursday, reaching $18.12. 6,265,783 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,451,938. Avantor, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.90 and a 12 month high of $28.00. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $21.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.35. The company has a market cap of $12.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. Avantor had a net margin of 4.54% and a return on equity of 12.24%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Avantor, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVTR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $25.00 price target (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Avantor has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $26.15.

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.