Invesco Ltd. Raises Stock Position in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,785,138 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 317,280 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 1.44% of Avantor worth $206,173,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AVTR. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,969,754 shares of the company's stock worth $1,347,843,000 after purchasing an additional 1,211,418 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake in shares of Avantor by 41.4% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 30,528,092 shares of the company's stock valued at $643,227,000 after buying an additional 8,936,879 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Avantor by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,232,329 shares of the company's stock valued at $236,227,000 after buying an additional 81,541 shares during the last quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Avantor by 43.6% during the fourth quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,145,825 shares of the company's stock worth $171,633,000 after acquiring an additional 2,473,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Schweiz AG raised its holdings in shares of Avantor by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG now owns 7,612,555 shares of the company's stock worth $160,397,000 after acquiring an additional 848,814 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Activity at Avantor

In related news, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the business'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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 40,604 shares of the company's stock, valued at $711,788.12. The trade was a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of Avantor 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 87,379 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,531,753.87. The trade was a 4.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Avantor Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:AVTR traded down $0.14 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $15.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,394,325 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,871,986. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.36. 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 1 year low of $13.80 and a 1 year high of $28.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.82, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR - Get Free Report) last released its 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 return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 10.49%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.22 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on AVTR shares. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Avantor in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Avantor from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $25.00 target price (down previously from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a report on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Avantor from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Avantor from $22.00 to $18.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Avantor presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $25.08.

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.