Boston Partners Decreases Stake in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Boston Partners decreased its holdings in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 66.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,422,468 shares of the company's stock after selling 12,704,887 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners owned about 0.94% of Avantor worth $135,339,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AVTR. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 8,206,695 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 18.2% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 17,692,705 shares of the company's stock valued at $457,710,000 after acquiring an additional 2,719,615 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 7.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,150,788 shares of the company's stock valued at $287,791,000 after acquiring an additional 739,667 shares during the period. Robeco Schweiz AG raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG now owns 7,612,555 shares of the company's stock valued at $160,397,000 after acquiring an additional 848,814 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Avantor by 653.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 5,354,678 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $25.00 price target (down from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Avantor from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $25.50.

Avantor Stock Up 2.0 %

Avantor stock traded up $0.33 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $16.61. 11,571,838 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,328,624. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.07. Avantor, Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.37 and a 12 month high of $28.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $18.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.72. The company has a market cap of $11.31 billion, a PE ratio of 15.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.30.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last released 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 in the previous year, the company posted $0.22 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,531,753.87. This trade represents a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

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.