Legal & General Group Plc Decreases Stock Holdings in Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its stake in shares of Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR - Free Report) by 23.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,112,552 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,289,573 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.60% of Avantor worth $86,651,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AVTR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in 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 during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in Avantor by 41.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 8,936,879 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Avantor by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,232,329 shares of the company's stock valued at $236,227,000 after acquiring an additional 81,541 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Avantor by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,785,138 shares of the company's stock worth $206,173,000 after purchasing an additional 317,280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarkston Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Avantor by 43.6% during the 4th quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,145,825 shares of the company's stock valued at $171,633,000 after purchasing an additional 2,473,395 shares during the last quarter. 95.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Avantor Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:AVTR traded down $0.14 during trading 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's 50 day simple moving average is $16.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Avantor, Inc. has a 12 month low of $13.80 and a 12 month high of $28.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.51 billion, a PE ratio of 14.82, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm posted $0.22 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Avantor, Inc. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Avantor from $23.00 to $18.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Avantor from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Raymond James restated an "outperform" rating and set a $24.00 price objective (down from $26.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $25.00 target price (down previously from $29.00) on shares of Avantor in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Three equities 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.com, Avantor currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $25.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avantor news, EVP James Bramwell sold 3,758 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total transaction of $65,877.74. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 87,379 shares in the company, valued at $1,531,753.87. This trade represents a 4.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Steven W. Eck sold 4,907 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.53, for a total value of $86,019.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 40,604 shares of the company's stock, 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. 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.